The Arrival of Omega Weapon
by Poidrac
Summary: This is my first story. This is the third and final update and revision of it. sorry for the break in the uploading. Been doing things, here's a big update... I hope you enjoy it, please rate and review. I will greatly appreciate it.
1. Prologue

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Note from Author This is my first serious attempt at a story. I hope you enjoy it.

Please remember that this is a cross-over fanfic and it will also include another version of the FFVII world (Another dimension as it could be said).

Now the story:

Prologue

The two men stared at each other, awaiting the slightest movement that would precipitate an attack.

The silver haired man looked up at the massive ball of fire that was rapidly falling down to the planet and smiled, but that was his mistake, he had momentarily taking his eye off the other man and he was made to pay for it. When his vision dragged back to the other man, the massive sword was nearly upon him. He hastily brought up his guard but it could not stop the full force of the impact. He pulled away, dragging himself out of reach at the last moment, as the whistle of the other mans sword just shaved his arm, bringing with it the cold shiver of fear. He shrugged it off, knowing that fear only brought death. His smile broadened.

"Ha Ha Ha Ha." He laughed. "You may kill me, but you know that even if I died, the world will still end." "Give me a break" The other man sneered.

A voice from the side whispered quietly "Your wasting time, Zack. Finish it and be done with it.  
Zack, the black haired mercenary, laughed. "Come on, Omega, can't you appreciate a little playing around." "That 'playing around' as you so casually put it, has taken around an hour now." Omega said "If you don't hurry, we won't be able to make it in time."

The silver haired man risked a casual glance at the figure in the shadows. The figure was about 6 foot 5 inches and had no distinguishing marks on its body, he could not tell if it was male or female but had a strange feeling that he didn't belong to either category. The figure had a calm disposition about it, like it did not fear the meteor that was above it. The most disturbing thing about it though, was the way it talked. It was kind of a monotonous tone that was more mechanical than human.

Seeing that the figure showed no fear of the meteor above made the silver-haired man wonder, so he asked a question to the opponent that he faced.

"What is so funny about that meteor that I called that would give you this laid back attitude?" Zack smiled "What's so funny?" he started laughing "What's so funny? The fact that you think that you can beat me by some puny spell like that one." He pointed upwards with his sword. "Oh well" He sighed, "at least you tried your hardest, but I guess that your hardest was never going to be good enough. Oh yeah, Omega, how long until transition" "Transition? Where on earth can you go that will protect you from the destructive power of Meteor." "Transition in 5 minutes." Omega intoned.  
"I guess that it is time to stop playing around and finish you, Sephiroth."

With that he extended his sword and ran at the silver haired man. Sephiroth's blade was ready, the sparks flew in all directions when the blades collided and even though Sephiroth was tired he would not give up, he would not crumble, even though he was sure to die when the meteor hits, he was going to make sure that even if they did escape from him, he would pursue them until the end, to make sure that they would pay for what they have done to all the people close to him. Lucrecia, Gaust, the people of Nibelheim and Ifalna.

The meteor above him was close now. He could feel the heat as he battled. The noise of the clash of swords continued, it kept up until the figure in the shadows decided to speak.  
"Transition started. Finish it now before he gets caught in the dimensional drift." With that, Sephiroth understood, of all the places that they could, they were going to go to the only place that meteor would not affect, another universe. With a single purpose now in his mind, he sought only one thing, survival, there would be another time and place for this battle to be finished and if he could survive, maybe he could find help.

The last thing he saw of his world as a bright light consumed the room, was of Meteor hitting the ground, wiping everything around it out, then he was gone and he wondered.

WAS HE DEAD? 


	2. Chapter 1

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 1

It has been a year since the victory over Ultimecia, but even though she had been defeated. It did not change the fact that she would still be born and inherit the sorceress' powers.  
SeeD was still as set up and necessary as it was back then. Awaiting any incursions from the evil sorceress.

It has almost been 10 months since Rinoa had officially joined SeeD and became a student at Balamb Garden. Despite her experience in battle and her Sorceress powers, she had insisted to Squall that she join.  
"To make it official" was her excuse back then. Squall had not believed her, she could tell. But he didn't stop her either, and for that she was grateful.

Rinoa snapped back to attention as her name was called out by Xu during the class registration. Rinoa was in the classroom at her seat, shuffling nervously. She was not the only one.  
She, as well as the rest of the class, knew what would be happening later that day.  
But she was probably the only one that knew the whole situation as she was also been appointed Gardens liaison to other countries.  
Xu finally finished the register, put it down and looked to the class.

"For those of you that haven't heard, the field exam is today." she said, looking from one side of the room to the other "As the only students who have qualified for the exam are in this class, I am authorised to form the squads now. Remember this is fixed and no exchanges can be made, if it does happen you will be disqualified.  
"Our client is the recently besieged City of Galbadia, who are under attack from the Dollet dukedom and rebel Timber factions. The two towns are saying it is revenge for the recent subjugation that the former leader placed on them. Even though they might be justified in their attack, our job is to make them think again as we cannot have any more random battles that may cause a new empire to form and give our ultimate enemy the chance to return." She did not need to state who the enemy was as everyone knew who it was and what could happen if she returned.

"The squads are, Squad A. Exploration squad; your job will be to search the sewers, disable any enemy you find and rendezvous with Squad C at the Presidential Palace. The team members are Wayne and Chelle with Starlen as Squad leader.  
"Squad B. Battle squad; your duty is to search the city for enemy and disable their forces. The team members are Rinoa and Fiona with Seifer as Squad Leader."

That caused a stir in the students. Xu quickly called for quiet and then announced the other two squads. C being the defence team responsible for the defence of the Palace and protect the current President, who was elected shortly after the battle with Ultimecia. President Caraway. Also, D being the Intelligence squad, responsible for reconnaissance and message deployment..

Rinoa wasn't paying too much attention to the announcement of the other squads as she was looking at her team members.  
Fiona was the pony-tailed librarian who was going out with Zell, as Rinoa spent a lot of time in the library she had gotten to know her very well and they were good friends, but she also knew that Fiona was not a very accomplished fighter.  
Seifer on the other hand was an enigma, only having rejoined SeeD a couple of months ago at the personal invite of Cid and Edea; known in the military organisation as the parents of SeeD. He has radically changed his attitude towards his studying and seemed like he was genuinely attempting to get into SeeD.

Xu looked around again after she had finished her assignments, "Squads are to change into uniforms if not done so already and meet in the front hanger in 30 minutes. All other students are to meet just outside the Training grounds and await your instructor. Dismissed."

Rinoa got up and quickly went to her room and changed. Halfway through, Squall appeared from behind her.

"Aah!" Rinoa screamed "Come on, Rinoa" Squall cringed back "we have been married for 8 months now." "Oh, Squall," she sighed "Its you, it could have been anyone." "Just coming to wish you luck on your exam." Squall kissed her "Luck! Why do I need that?" She said jokingly, feigning a shocked look.  
Squall laughed "Don't know!" He admitted.  
"I'll take it, though." She said seriously "You do know who I've got on my squad." "Yeah, Seifer and Fiona." "Huh" she gasped " How did you know?" "I made the squads, see you when you get back!" Squall kissed her again and then left, leaving a wild look on Rinoa's face.

Rinoa finished changing quickly and took a moment to reflect on the changes that Squall has had since they were married, he seemed more open for one thing, even though he still used his solid demeanour to great effect, the people closest to him knew what was happening and he was more than willing to talk to them to get their opinion on a task or ask for them to do a special duty for him. She looked at her clock and headed for the hanger, on the way she met up with Fiona and they walked together in silence, neither had to say anything as they both knew what was on the line during this exam.

………

Seifer waited by the directory, he was already set up for his part in the exam, he did not need to get himself ready for the battles as he was considered the best in Garden, only Squall could come close in matching skills and power, he did not even have to be ready to lead his squad because he had excelled in group battles during training and practical lessons, the only thing that worried him was the fact that if he failed again, would he be able to deal with another failure?

"SEIFER, TROUBLE" Fujin said coming up to him.  
"Yeah, Seifer, you look like you've got a worry, ya know" Raijin said from behind Fujin "Well, you know, I'm just thinking about them getting in my way, again." Seifer said, trying to cover up.  
"Ya right! Oh, man!" Raijin shouted "I gotta go, ya know, gotta get a book that's come in, ya know." "Go ahead, see ya when I get back." Raijin ran off towards the library while Seifer turned to Fujin. "Aren't you going with him?" "What's really the problem, Seifer?" Fujin said changing her voice to the way she only spoke to Seifer with, while no-one else was around.  
Seifer looked hard at Fujin, but after thinking a little, he backed down and explained.  
"Do you really think I can pass this exam, do you know what it might do to me this time, you know what it did to me last time, it almost got everyone and everything destroyed, it was my fault. Not Edea, not Squall, not even Ultimecia, it was me that helped her, it was me that was to weak to stand up to her, it was me that was to proud to back down when I should have…" "STOP IT, SEIFER" Fujin barked "That is in the past, you are much stronger now… we are much stronger now!" That shocked Seifer, Fujin has never raised her voice to him before, had never interrupted him. But she was also correct. "You're right, I better get on with it then." He started down the corridor but suddenly stopped. "Say Fujin" He said not turning back to the silver-haired woman. "When I graduate, how about us going for a drink to celebrate?" he paused "Without Raijin!" "That's the Seifer I know!" Fujin laughed "Wait!" She suddenly looked shocked. "Did you just say what I think you just said?" "Yup" Fujin's hard eyes softened noticeably "Sure, I'd be delighted" With that, Seifer nodded and walked to the waiting instructors. Never looking back.

………

The candidates stood in a line in front of Xu and the other three instructors. Squall stood off to the side looking at Rinoa, thinking about why he set up the squads like they are, matching her with Seifer and essentially an amateur knife-thrower in Fiona. Then it came to him and he understood, he was asking Seifer if he could deal with leadership and trust his companions in real combat, he was asking Rinoa to forgive Seifer for his actions during the battle with Adel by putting her in a position to have to work with, and trust him. Finally, he was asking Fiona to prove herself in battle and stake her claim in SeeD.  
He finally took his eyes off his wife, to look across the hanger to the two ships awaiting the candidates and their SeeD supervisors. The red one on the right was the Ragnorok, the original ship that assisted him and his companions during their battle with Ultimecia. The other ship was the same class of ship as the Ragnorok except for the fact it completely black. The Dragon, as it was named, had been presented to Garden with three other ships as payment by Esthar, for the use of SeeD to face Ultimecia. The Garden committee which consisted of Himself, Edea, Cid, Xu and Dr. Kadowaki promptly authorised a hanger to be built in the old front gate to house the five ships.  
They now had access to almost any place in the world and could deploy in emergencies within 30 minutes, if necessary.

After a quick role call of candidates, Cid came to the front. "Welcome to all of you, each of you are about to go on an official mission for Garden, remember, complete your goals as a squad and complete your tasks as an individual to the best of your ability. Good luck to all of you." After he moved away, Xu came up "Remember, an order to withdraw takes priority over any other order." Squall was looking at Seifer as Xu made that comment, almost immediately after, Seifer looked at him and nodded. He was showing that he understood his mission both the spoken objectives of the mission and the unspoken mission of looking after Rinoa, but more than that Squall saw a determination in Seifer's eyes that he had never seen before and he knew that Seifer had prepared himself both mentally and physically for this mission.  
Xu continued "Squads A and C are to go on the Dragon" signalling the black ship on the left. "Squads B and D are to go on the Ragnorok" signalling the red ship. "Candidates are to go to their respective ships immediately, take off in five minutes. Dismissed."

Squall quickly walked over to the side where Selphie and Irvine were standing.  
"Hi, Squall" Selphie greeted him "Wats'Up?" "Oh, nothing" Squall replied "Just wondering how the two of you are." Irvine smiled "Really…? The ships are fine, they won't crash or anything like that." "I guess I'm pretty transparent, aren't I." Squall said ruefully "No;" Selphie assured him "just concerned that's all." "I know, but that's also why I placed you two as the air force commanders, and why I can trust you. I'll see you when you get back for your report." "Yeah, don't you worry your little head off, we'll get everyone there and back safely." Irvine said.

The two of them bid Squall farewell and went to their own ships. Selphie to the Ragnorok, the ship she has looked after and loved ever since she first stepped into it, and Irvine to the Dragon, the only ship in the class that came closest to the performance to the Ragnorok. This campaign had been planned down to the last detail, it was planned to be the safest and smoothest campaign and it had started out well as the two ships took off in tandem for the start of the mission.

As Squall turned away to deal with some other duties, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong and what worried him most, was that most of the time, his bad feelings usually came true. 


	3. Chapter 2

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 2

It has been one year since Meteor was called and the battle with Sephiroth.  
A lone woman stood in the highest floor of the Shinra tower. It would have been higher, but due to her orders, the Shinra company only fixed the standing floors that were not hit by Weapon's attack a year earlier.  
Now she was overseeing the creation of new towns, new villages and new cities, so that Midgar would become nothing more than a memory of past mistakes.

"Madam President!" The woman turned and looked at the smartly dressed man that had walked up behind her.  
"What is it, Reeve?" The president replied "and call me by my proper name, we've known each other for too long to play that game." "Sure, Tifa… I've got word on our friends.

That attracted her attention, it has been quite a while since she had heard from her friends, it had been that way since she took up Reeve's offer to become the President of Shinra Inc. Even though all the Mako reactors and Mako related products had been shut down, people were still unsure about doing business with the company, that was essentially her job, to rebuild the trust and appearance of the company, and who better to do that than someone who helped save the world.

"I'm listening" She said "Firstly, Barret, as we know, went back to Corel." Reeve reported "Yeah, we're getting our coal from him, aren't we?" "Indeed, well it seems that he has been elected the new mayor and is currently engaged to be married to one of the townspeople soon, don't know which one yet, though." "Amazing, I thought he would never remarry after what happened last time." "Truly, well, to continue. Nanaki has finally come down from the cliff." "What!" Tifa exclaimed "Does that mean…?" "Yes, he has become guardian of Cosmo Canyon, but more than that, a stray of Nanaki's race was found injured near the Canyon and they are currently nursing her back to health." "Her?" "Yes, initial reports say so, they say she has a more striking appearance than Nanaki does and he was instantly enthralled by her. After a few weeks, they started to 'date', you could call it… Huh," Reeve said looking at Tifa who was close to tears "what's wrong?" Tifa sniffed "Why is it that everyone seems to be finding their ideal partner but me?" "Don't worry Tifa, I'm sure that he'll come back someday." He did not need to mention who it was they were talking about, they both knew.  
"But when? When will it be?" She sighed heavily "Oh, forget it. Just finish you report." "Okay" he continued "there has been no word from Yuffie or Vincent, they both seem to have disappeared." "Doesn't really surprise me that much." "Uh huh, the only one left is Cid." He smiled "He seems to be having a blast down in the research area. He recently came up with a prototype engine for the Highwind and even though Palmer warned him, he tested it and it blew up in his face, luckily it did him no harm and he is rebuilding it as we speak." "I thought I heard a large explosion earlier!" "Yes, that was it, Cid did get a right chewing out from Shera though, and that probably hurt more than the explosion." "I bet it did…" Tifa looked at the clock "Look at the time, I better be going, I don't want to miss out on training." "Go ahead," Reeve nodded "we'll finish the report later."

………

"TIFA!" You've got to follow through a bit more, your stopping your strikes from doing the maximum damage." Tifa stopped for a few moments to look at her mentor, "Ok, Zengan" she then went back to kicking the training dummy.  
Zengan had been found in one of the bars in the Sector 6 slums during a routine visit. He and Tifa instantly recognised each other and Zengan was invited to work as a Martial Arts Instructor. Even though he couldn't do most of the moves now because of his age and lack of mobility, his mind was still healthy and was now teaching a new batch of students in the gym of the Shinra Tower.

"Tifa. Stop!" Zengan shouted "That's enough, you need to keep practicing. There may not be any battles at the moment but you need to remember, a unprepared warrior is usually the first to die." "I will heed your words, master." Tifa said bowing "Good, now, do the Final Heaven attack!" "Huh… why?" Tifa said confused "I want to see your style of it." He said smiling "It is different for every person who uses it; some use their feet, some use their fists and a couple use a combination of the two. Also, people usually play to their strengths, being either extra speed to put in another quick attack and others use more power to make it a fully blown finishing manoeuvre ." "Okay, what do you want me to use it on?" Tifa asked "How about the dummy in the centre of the room." He pointed to the largest of all the dummies.  
"Sure. Get ready." She then crouched down ready "Here goes." She concentrated, let the world flow around her, she picked up bits of energy from around her with her mind and placed it in her fist, she then took that energy and with a lunge went straight through the dummy, destroying it.  
With a thud, the dummies that surrounded it hit the walls after being broken with the shockwave. She turned to Zengan "How's that?" "Very good, Tifa." He was sitting down trying to get his breath back "I see you use a combination of speed and power, with quite devastating results. You just need to concentrate the power on the thing that you are attacking a bit more though." "I guess your right." Tifa said looking round the room and the devastation, as she started to look back at Zengan, she saw a light out of the corner of her eye. "What the hell is that!" She exclaimed as the light grew.  
"Tifa! Something's wrong," Her master shouted "it's not natural!" "I can tell that!"

Suddenly the whole room was engulfed in the light.

………

"Palmer, why don't you mind your #!&/ business and get out of the way!" "Hey, Hey, Hey, do you want to blow up?" Palmer said "You came close last time, Cid and this contraption is not any safer." "Why you, dumbass fat man!" Cid stood over him ominously when Shera interrupted.  
"What is wrong with it then, Palmer?" "Only a little thing, Shera. The power regulator is not installed." The fat man said pointing to a cuboid on the table.  
"What would we need that for?" Cid asked puzzled Before Palmer could talk. Shera explained "It dampens the power output to place it within safety margins, we placed it on full power last time and because of the build-up of energy, it blew. If we put it on a low power level and raise it, we may get a better idea of what it can handle." "Damn, Shera, I didn't understand a #!&/ word you just said!" "S-Sorry" She apologised "Don't apologise, just do it." Cid said turning to her and scratching his head "You're probably right." Suddenly there was a crashing noise from upstairs followed by a pressure, then it was gone.

"Wh-Wh-What was that" Palmer said from under the table He and Shera both looked to Cid for the answer. "How the #!& am I meant to know!" He paused "But at a guess, I'd say it is our esteemed little lady up high, training." "She could do that shockwave on her own." Shera said stunned "Believe me," Cid laughed "She can do more damage with her fists than the whole compliment of armament on the Highwind." Before Shera could reply to that, Palmer shrieked "What is that?" Cid turned to him "Fat man, I already told you, it's Tifa training." "Not that, THAT!" He pointed to a bright light that was quickly engulfing the room.  
"Everyone! Move!" Cid shouted "Something's not right!  
But before anyone could move, the light engulfed the room and time seemed to slow to a crawl.

………

He could feel something wasn't right, like something was out of place, like something was not meant to be.  
He had felt this way since the Lifestream and Holy had destroyed Meteor. Since that day, he has been searching for that thing, his quest, as it could be named had brought him back to Nibelheim.

Cloud looked at the well and remembered his days here as a child, the promises he had made and upheld, the friends he made during his time away, but most of all, he remembered the two ladies that had stolen his heart. But because he could not choose between them, he had chosen to go with neither, but his heart was in agony. He tried to shrug it off but it remained so he continued through the town.

After a few moments, he found himself walking down the steps to the basement of the Shinra Mansion, the place where it had effectively started. He walked up to the capsule that had housed him for close to five years. He looked at it and got a sick feeling, so he raised his sword and destroyed it with a single blow.

"What in hell was that!" A familiar voice came from the sealed room "Keep it down, I'm trying to sleep in here." Cloud was stunned but quickly recovered and went over to the door. He knocked and asked "May I come in?" "No!" Came the answer from the other side "Leave me alone." "Okay, but it's your door." With that, he again raised his sword and split the door in two. As he walked in, he found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol. "Sorry, Vincent," Cloud said casually "but I knocked a bit too hard." "Cloud!" Vincent said through clenched teeth "Don't ever interrupt my sleep again!" He lowered his pistol and went to a nearby bench and sat down.  
"Sorry about the noise, Vincent." Cloud apologised "but I thought you would still be with Lucrecia." "I was, until a couple of days ago." Vincent then looked directly at Cloud then "Something's wrong!" That peaked Cloud's interest "How so?" "I've been having strange dreams lately." "Who doesn't." Cloud said jokingly, hoping it sounded it as well "Mine are different, Cloud. Mine are usually visions of a possible future. The problem is I don't know what's wrong." "I don't either." He paused "I have a little confession." He explained his feelings and since when he has had them.  
"Figures, you're more in tune with your Jenova cells than I am with mine." Vincent then looked Cloud directly in the eyes "During our journey for Sephiroth, you said you were physically built like a member of Soldier, was that a general member or specific person?  
"Specific, why?" "In a moment, what colour was this persons hair?" "Black, can you please tell me why!" "Then, he is one of them." Vincent said excitedly "Look, Cloud, in my dreams, I have had a vision of someone with your build, with your style of hair except its black and with that exact sword in you hand." "What!" Cloud shouted "But Zack is dead, he died near Midgar just before I joined Avalanche." "You sure?" "Positive." Cloud assured him "I read a file in Midgar that he was categorically deceased and his body was burned." "Well, he was definitely alive. He had a partner as well that I didn't recognise but…" "But, what?" "I-… I suggest you look behind you!" Cloud did and he saw a strange bright light. Before he could say another word the light engulfed the whole room. 


	4. Chapter 3

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Zell was in the hanger going through his practice exercises as the Ragnorok and Dragon Returned. He smiled and stopped.  
He then went over to welcome the returning students.  
As soon as he was within a dozen metres of the ships, the doors opened and the students came out.  
It only took him a few moments to figure out something was wrong, only nine of the twelve candidates came out and three of them were on stretchers, he quickly checked and saw Seifer, Rinoa and his girlfriend Fiona were safe and unharmed.  
He looked up and saw Selphie and Irvine coming out of the ships but they were the last. He quickly ran up to the two commanders.

"What happened?" He shouted over the racket of doctors.  
"We were ambushed!" Selphie replied with clenched teeth "Get the story from Irvine, I've got to report this to Squall quickly." "Understood." Zell said quickly doing the SeeD salute. As Selphie ran off, he turned to Irvine "Okay then, what happened?"

………

Squall was shocked as Selphie burst into the control room.  
"Sorry, Sir" Selphie quickly apologised "I'm here to give you my report." "But I thought you would be coming later today." "Sorry again, Squall, but it just can't wait." Squall then looked carefully at Selphie and he could tell something was wrong "What happened?" He asked "After we landed near Galbadia to offload our forces, we were ambushed by Timber and Dollet troops. With the element of surprise on their side, they killed three of the SeeD instructors and injured the other…" Squall's face darkened "Xu?" Was all he could say "She was the injured one" Selphie reported "Go on." "They also killed three of the Squad leaders. They knew exactly what they were doing and it showed. The only squad leader left was Seifer, and that was only because he was quick off the mark to defend himself." "How quick?" Squall asked suspiciously Selphie picked up on that and quickly defended Seifer "No, No, No, he didn't betray us again. They just intercepted the transmission from Galbadia to Garden and were ready for us when we arrived." "How do you know that?" "We, ah, interrogated one of the survivors of the battle." "Okay then, continue." "The candidates that were left counter-attacked and they soon routed the enemy. Because their friends and instructors were killed, I guess, that had a bit of extra incentive." She paused quickly "After the quick interrogation that I just mentioned, we decided to rest quickly to sort out what we were going to do.  
"As I was the only healthy SeeD there, I was going to order a complete withdrawal. While I was going up to the candidates to tell them, I saw Seifer and Rinoa talking to everyone, so I decided to listen in instead.  
"Seifer was explaining that the mission must be completed, that they had done to much and worked to hard to go back empty handed now and that he personally did not want to wait another year for their opportunity to come again.  
"I thought he was only wanting revenge but then Rinoa spoke up and said that they could still finish the mission and that they had come up with a plan to do just that." "A plan?" Squall gasped "The two of them came up with it together." "Too right, amazing isn't it?" Squall nodded "What was this plan?" This report had suddenly got very interesting.  
"Well, they first came to me to ask if they could rearrange the squads. I didn't see any problems with it so I gave them my permission. Beyond that, though, I also gave them complete control of the mission." "You did what!" "Hey, I didn't see any problem with it, and without anybody to come up with a better plan, those two were the only ones that could save the mission." "Umm, I see your point." "I supervised the rearrangement, so as to give it an air of authority, but it was essentially their show. They split the candidates into 3 new groups. Seifer commanded the first, he chose the two best attackers as his squad members; Rinoa commanded the second, she had the two best defenders and they placed Fiona in charge of the third, her unit comprised of the last two.  
"Everyone then loaded the dead onto the Dragon, with Seifer and Rinoa then ordering Irvine to retreat to a safe distance so that the enemy did not capture the ship. As the Dragon left they turned to me and asked if I could land the Ragnorok inside the palace grounds. I thought about it for a moment and said yes, it was possible." "I see the plan now." Squall said listening carefully "You land in the grounds to cut out the time fighting your way to the palace, because as they knew you were there anyway, there would be more ambushes waiting in the city itself." "Exactly, that's what I came up with as the reason as well." "But why the Ragnorok instead of the Dragon?" "Easy," Selphie explained "The Dragon is too big to fit in the palace grounds." "Huh, but I thought…" "No, they are not the same size, the Dragon is roughly 10 larger than the Ragnorok." "Funny, I've never noticed that before." Squall laughed "I guess I should pay more attention to the schematics. Okay, then, continue with your story." "Story?" "Yeah, it's the best true story, I've heard in quite a while!" "You've changed, Squall, you know that?" "Yeah," Squall said bitterly "I know, blame the wife." "Okay, I'll thank her later" Selphie smiled "You're a little better this way." "Whatever." Selphie started laughing.  
"What?" "That's the old Squall! Never mind," She smiled "I had better continue." "Proceed, then" "We landed in the palace grounds and immediately despatched the candidates, they all headed to the front gate which was under attack. The candidates went and helped the Galbadian military push back the attackers.  
"After that, they fortified the palace, with Seifer and his squad then going out and countered the enemy." "So that's why he took the best attackers, his part of the plan was to take the battle to the enemy as soon as the palace was secure." "Exactly, with the Galbadian military, Rinoa and her defence squad in the palace grounds; and Seifer outside, the combined forces didn't stand a chance of winning a battle, let alone the war.  
"Within a half hour, the Timber and Dollet forces were on the back foot and that was the point in which Rinoa and her squad was waiting for, leaving the Galbadian military to defend the palace, she and Seifer scoured the town for enemy and drove them from Deling City. Overall, it was a very smooth operation." "Brilliant…, wait, what about Fiona and her squad?" "Their job was essentially messengers, because of the all round nature of the squad they were able to get messages to the other squads and could look out for enemy attacks along the way. It was a very dangerous job and they were ambushed quite often, but they were easily able to either evade or fight their way through." Selphie stopped and took a long breather.

There was no other words said so Squall acted like the report was over "So, essentially, the mission was completed?" He prompted "yes, it had, but in addition, after the initial ambush, not one of the candidates was killed, we did have a few injuries but none are serious and they are expected to recover quickly." "Good, thank you for your report. Did Xu return with you?" "No, her injuries were too severe, she is being treated in Deling City. She did, though, give me a message for you, it was for you not to worry and she will be back as soon as possible." "Fair enough," Squall thought and then said to Selphie "looks like I'll have to ask you then. Who are the prime nominations for SeeD membership?" Selphie smiled "honestly, every one of them." Squall looked at her "What I mean is who achieved the passing grade." "Oh, so you want them stats." She thought for a few moments "They would have to be" She paused again, probably more for dramatic purposes than anything else "Seifer and Rinoa, their leadership and strategic planning were marvellous. Also, Fiona, it was her intelligence and awareness that got her though this exam. Finally, Wallace, his battle skills were amazing and even Seifer was impressed by him." "Seifer was impressed, that's a first. Thank you, when Irvine and Cid get here we'll announce the winners." Squall then looked straight at Selphie "While we wait though, how's Trabia Garden doing?" Selphie grinned "You had to ask, didn't you." "Yes, did you find the control console?" "Yup, right where it was supposed to be. It was so deep, it was virtually undamaged, we activated it and the Garden transformed, but because the surface damage was so great, the Garden wouldn't move." Squall could hear the sadness in her voice.  
"We were able to get a call out to Galbadia Garden and they gave us a tow to FH. It took a while but as soon as we were there, the technicians started work." "Any ideas when it will be finished?" "No, it's estimated to be about another year before its done." Selphie sighed "Don't worry about it, Selphie. FH has the best technicians in the world, if anyone can do it in half the time, its them!"

At that moment, Cid and Irvine came in and the ceremony was about to begin.

………

Seifer was standing in the corridor outside the classroom. For the first time in his life he was nervous, despite all he has gone through, all the pain, all the suffering and all the disappointments he has never been less than totally sure of his path. It was a new experience and he didn't like it. Usually he would have Raijin and Fujin with him during the waiting period, but today he had deliberately told them to stay away, they were waiting in the classroom for the news, be it good, or bad.

………

Rinoa was sitting on the floor looking down the corridor to the elevator, she was prepared for the worst, it had only been a little while since she had become a student and even though she was experienced in fighting because of her time with Squall and her friends, there was a doubt in her, that she had not done enough to make it. To try to silence that doubt, she reflected on what had happened earlier, when Seifer was standing over the last of the ambushers, he had been shaking, he was poised to strike but was not sure if he should or not. Rinoa had called out to him and as if that had been the sign he was waiting for, he threw his gunblade to the ground and struck the helpless person with his fist. They had then gotten together to rally the candidates and complete the mission. Rinoa wondered what would have happened if Seifer had struck with his gunblade instead of his fist. But decided it was not important now.

Fiona was sitting next to Rinoa in the corridor and with a nudge of her elbow woke her from that daydream. Irvine was walking down from the elevator. They both got up and waited for the announcement.

………

Seifer saw Rinoa and Fiona get up and knew that the candidates who had won membership were about to be named. He steadied himself and his nerves and waited.

Irvine appeared at the intersection, Seifer studied him as he waited, Irvine was once a sharpshooter from Galbadia Garden, from what he had heard, and despite his obvious character defects, was also impossible to be disliked; of course, Seifer would never admit it, but he liked this gunslinger.

Seifer quickly looked around and saw almost the same expression on everyone's face, helplessness, knowing it was someone else's decision, that they could do nothing to influence the decision. As Irvine started, Seifer looked straight at him.

The candidates who I name now are to proceed immediately to the bridge of the Garden, all others are to return to the classroom. First, Wallace,"

Seifer looked at Wallace, he had been a member of his revised squad and had impressed Seifer with his skills with the twin firearms he used, he called them pistols. He had laid down covering fire while Seifer and Bino got into close range combat with their weapons.

"Fiona,"

That surprised Seifer, and with one glance at her, knew that it had surprised her as well. To be honest, she had done well, doing her duty, leading her own squad and completing her assignments. They were probably what had helped her get the required points.

"Rinoa"

If Fiona shocked Seifer, Rinoa did almost the opposite, because if she had made it, then…

"and, finally, Seifer!"

Seifer smiled, what he really wanted, was to jump up, shout out and maybe dance a little. But he did have a reputation to keep, so he had a quick look round and headed toward the other candidates and the elevator. He couldn't help but see the disappointment on the faces of the other candidates and he had to admit that if there were any people he wanted to watch his back in battle apart from Raijin and Fujin, it would be the people who had taken part in today's exam.

………

Irvine looked down to the elevator as Seifer entered, the doors closed and it went up. He then turned and walked to the classroom. As he entered he saw that the candidates were sitting in their seats. Many with their heads in their hands.

He went to the teaching position and shouted "Right, all people who didn't take today's exam are to report to classroom 6Alpha." Seeing Raijin and Fujin were also in the classroom. "Raijin and Fujin could you come to the front please. This concerns you two as well."

As the excess students filed out, Irvine heard someone who remained seated say "Great, we get special treatment 'cause we failed." "Stop that, Chelle." Irvine said angrily.  
"Its true, isn't it! Chelle retorted "Just because you didn't make the A-list." He said, a bit shocked at how much venom he put in that comment "In fact, you all passed" That announcement raised heads.  
"But…, But…, we weren't called out" another person said.  
"I know, Bino." Irvine smiled "They were the ones to become field commanders, you see. We came up with this while you were waiting. The ones who were called out are the ones that proved that they could command and assess situations. You people are fighters, defenders, intelligence officers and the general workhorses of Garden.  
"You have a choice, you can either be trained by myself and Selphie to become members of the SeeD Air force or be trained by Raijin and Fujin here to become members of the SeeD Ground Forces. You are to return to your dorms for the rest of the day to contemplate your choice, you will be required to answer at 0900 hours tomorrow. For your benefit we have placed a computer system in your rooms to read up on both divisions. I will see you tomorrow. Dismissed.

As the new SeeD members left with broad grins on their faces, Irvine turned to Raijin and Fujin and saw a strange expression on both their faces.

"EXPLAIN" Fujin said in her mechanical voice.  
"Yeah, man, what's happening, ya know?" Raijin translated Irvine smiled at them "You've been promoted, we all know you've been a bit bored sitting around, so you are now the official trainers of the SeeD Ground forces. You will be getting your official orders later today from Cid and Edea, but as you were here, I thought I might as well tell you now." "OFFICIAL" "Ya mean, the order came from Cid? Ya know." "Yeah, it came from Cid, any objections should go to him after you receive the orders." "NONE" "Yeah, ya know. No objections, ya know. Be pleased to do it, ya know."

As they left the classroom, Irvine took off his hat to adjust it, "Went better than I thought" he said to himself. Suddenly Irvine couldn't help but get the feeling he was being watched, the looked around and saw a strange light. As it engulfed the entire room he could only stare and wonder. As well as replace his hat.

………

Squall was standing to the side of the bridge as Cid was addressing the new SeeD.  
After Cid had heard the report of the exam from Selphie, he had come up with the idea of passing all of the candidates, with the four in front of him at that moment being chosen for special training, to become commanders while the rest had the choice of joining either the Air force or the Ground forces. After they had made their choices tomorrow, they were going to be brought up in the two groups and initiated before their specialist training would begin.  
Squall had again been surprised by Cid's intelligence, who, while he lacked strength, could match wits with any person in the world; past, present or future.  
"Furthermore," Cid continued as Squall started to listen "your duties to garden and its students cannot be ignored, you must still abide by its rules and you are to help the students in what they are to do. Teach them, train them and help them, but never do what they need to do yourselves, they are here to learn, just as much as you are. I will be seeing you again so be good and trust in your abilities."

As Cid left the room for another appointment, Squall came forward "Here are your SeeD test reports." He gave each person a booklet which contained their report, their identification and a quick guide on how to increase their ranks.

After returning, he turned to face the four "I have great ex…"

………

Rinoa was looking directly at Squall when he stopped unexpectedly. Of all the expressions she had seen on his face, he wore a new one now. Fear, no, fear and horror combined.  
Then she saw, Squall wasn't looking at any of the four of them, he was looking behind them. She turned to see what he was looking at and froze, in front of her was a light, a pure light.

As she watched, it began to grow, brighter and brighter. To her side, she heard a shout and saw Wallace run from the room. She wanted to follow but found that she couldn't move. As the light quickly engulfed her and the rest of the SeeD's, she could only think of one thing and she found a voice to shout it "SQUALL!" 


	5. Chapter 4

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As the light subsided, Cloud found himself in the same room, but for some reason Vincent was nowhere to be seen.

"Vincent!" He shouted "Where are you?" Behind him he heard a voice "I don't know who this Vincent is, or who you are. I don't really care, but I do want to know one thing, What is going on!" It wasn't a question.

Cloud turned quickly and raised his massive sword, and found himself face to face with someone he didn't recognise. The person in front of him also had his weapon drawn and raised, it was a curious weapon which looked like a mixture of a sword and a gun. The person himself wore a leather jacket with fur around its top, that did seem to be a weakness as most leather clothing restricted movement, he quickly dismissed that view as he knew appearances could be deceiving and the man seemed to be comfortable.

"Who are you?" Cloud inquired "Sorry," The mystery man said "don't do intros. Shall we just fight and get it over with!" Cloud laughed "You! Fight me! Do you wish to die?" The other man stood there "I won't be the one dying. I'm willing to wager that your sword there is too big to move quickly." "Try it and see!" Cloud challenged.

With that, the two fighters ran and struck. Their blades coming together with a clang, with a shower of sparks being the only result of that exchange.  
After a few minutes of useless attempts to break the others guard, they stepped back to catch their breath.

"Not bad." The leather clad man said "but I'm just toying with you, now feel the power of the Lion's Heart." "Bring it on," Cloud challenged, raising his sword confidently "It can't beat my Omnislash."

The air crackled with energy as they both unleashed their most powerful combo's…, and cancelled each other out. For all the strikes that were attempted by both men, they all just bounced harmlessly off the others blade. As they finished with their final strike, they were both thrown back from each other due to the sheer force of their blows. They both got up quickly and stood facing each other.

"How?" Cloud said incredulously "I've killed hundreds of monsters and people with that combination." "You're not the only one." The other man said just as incredulously, there was a look of concentration on his face "Oh well, my names Squall, what's yours, worthy warrior?" "Cloud." He thought for a second "You had specialist training?" "Yes, I'm getting the same impression from your skills." "Yeah, I used to be in SOLDIER, I never made it, but I've got the skills. I now make my living as a travelling mercenary." "SOLDIER?" Squall asked puzzled "What's that?" Cloud stared at him "Don't you know! it's the personal army of Shinra Inc." "Shinra?" "Huh… Never mind." Cloud gave up "What about you?" "Field commander of SeeD, a mercenary force." "SeeD?" Cloud asked now equally puzzled "Huh," It was Squall's turn to stare at Cloud "SeeD is a codename, we are students of an institute called Garden, we train to destroy a powerful sorceress from the future named Ultimecia…" "Whoa!" Cloud stopped him "I think we have a problem. I have no idea what you are talking about, which probably means your not from around here." "You're probably right." Squall agreed, looking around "Where am I, anyway?" "We're in a small village called Nibelheim," also looking around, he added "in the basement of the village mansion." "Okay, so where do I go to get home?" "Honestly, I don't know, but I'm going to a place called Corel to see a friend, you'll be welcome to join me, if you want." Cloud offered "Might as well." Squall agreed, sheaving his sword "Not got anything better to do, and you never know, I might meet up with someone I know."

Cloud nodded and lead Squall out of the basement, wondering what could have happened to bring this excellent fighter to him.

………

Rinoa could feel something was different, even before the light had dimmed.

She found herself in what looked like a gym, across the room was a lady about 21 years old with long dark hair. Rinoa quickly hid behind a nearby piece of equipment, which was curiously toppled over, to see if she could figure out where she was and why she was here.  
A panel on the wall beeped and the long haired lady walked over to it.  
"Yes," She heard the lady say "What is it?" "It's Shera, madam president." A panicky voice came back "Cid's disappeared!" Cid, that was a name Rinoa recognised, but she also knew that there were some strange things going on, so she decided to remain hidden.  
"Don't worry, Shera." The lady soothed, trying to calm the panicky lady "Have a look around but he should be alright, remember, he's old enough to take care of himself." With that she turned off the comm. unit and turned around.  
Rinoa quickly hid behind the equipment even more, trying to remain silent.  
"Zengan," She heard the lady say "where are you?" There was no response.  
"Zengan?" She called again, more urgently this time, but there was still no response.

Rinoa risked a glance in the lady's direction and saw her take a small yellow gem from a nearby tray. She then placed it in a slot on her right glove. There was then an intense concentration on her face, as if she was searching for something. Suddenly, she looked up and directly at the piece of equipment Rinoa was hiding behind. She quickly hid more behind the equipment.

"Who's there?" Rinoa didn't answer, she didn't even breath.  
"I know you are there!" The lady accused "that materia I just used has told me where you are." There was a long silence until Rinoa shouted out "Okay, Okay, I'm coming out, don't do anything rash."

As she got up and faced the other woman, she saw for the first time clearly what she looked like. She was quite beautiful, she was wearing a grey training top and very short black skirt. Rinoa looked into her eyes and saw they carried a sorrow more pronounced than any others she had seen. They showed an outward kindness, but they also showed that she would not trust anyone immediately, not unless they did something special.  
Sensing that she had to make the first move, she introduced herself "My name's Rinoa, pleased to meet you." The eyes softened a little "Funny position for someone who's appeared out of nowhere." The lady answered, she then shrugged "Mine's Tifa, glad to meet you too." "I heard that Shera lady say president, that's you?" "Yeah," Tifa said a little bitterly "It's in name only, luckily, I'm more like a figurehead to raise support for the company." "Luckily?" "Yeah, I get to do the things I want and don't get in the trouble for it." Tifa said a little childishly, she then turned serious and looked around the room "Have you seen an old man around anywhere?" "Who? That Zengan, you were just calling? No, sorry." "That light must have sent him somewhere then, considering you appeared straight after it went." Tifa again looked at Rinoa "You know what my job is, what do you do?  
"Me?" Rinoa said "I'm from Balamb Garden, it's a school for training mercenaries." "A mercenary? You?" Tifa looked shocked "Yeah, well, actually, we usually take on jobs only to deal with evil sorceresses." "Amazing. Well, I…" There was a beep from the control panel again, then another a and it kept beeping until Tifa answered it.  
"Tifa here, what is it now?" She said angrily "Tifa, its Reeve." A male voice came back "Thousands of monsters are attacking the tower!" "What! But how?" She exclaimed "Don't know, but the defence systems are down so we can't turn the monsters back." "Understood," Tifa looked thoughtful for a few seconds "Announce the evacuation order, Shera and Palmer should still be in the lab they may need some help." "What about Cid?" "He seems to have disappeared due to that light." "Disappeared!" "Yes, now, get the Highwind prepared, we'll be leaving for Junon as quickly as we can." "See ya there, then." Tifa turned to Rinoa "We need to get out of here." Rinoa was inclined to agree with her "How, though?" She asked "With all them monsters in the way?" "The normal way… The only way to deal with monsters." Tifa tightened the gloves that she wore. "By fighting 'em." "Fighting, yeah right, where's your weapon?" Rinoa inquired Tifa laughed "Weapon, who said I needed a weapon." She then turned and ran through a nearby door.  
Rinoa stared for a second at where Tifa had been and then ran after her.

………

After a few minutes of running, Tifa stopped and looked behind her. Rinoa, as she had called herself, was coming up.  
"You alright?" Tifa asked "Yeah," Rinoa answered, there was little hint of breathlessness, which meant she was used to running long distances.  
"Good, I was thinking that we should take the stairs, the elevators are probably working overtime dealing with this evacuation, if they're working at all." "Good idea, how do we get there?" "Just follow me."

They started running again, heading for the emergency stairwell that Tifa had discovered on her first visit to the Shinra Tower with Cloud, just over a year ago. The stairwell had been recently changed to become almost a direct route to the airfield behind the tower where the Highwind waited.

When they reached the door that lead to the stairs, Tifa again turned to Rinoa "Here we are." Rinoa walked through he doors and looked down "We've got to go down them all?" She said with awe.  
Tifa shrugged "Trust me, its better than running up them! This is one of my training exercises, I have to run down them and then run all the way back up without a break." Rinoa stared at her as Tifa stepped through the door "Seriously?" "Yup, shall we get going then?" Tifa prompted "Might as well. But you still haven't told me how you mean to defend yourself if we get attacked." She said accusingly "You'll see, Rinoa, just wait, you'll definitely see."

As they ran down the stairs, Tifa checked her materia; she only had the Sense she had picked up in the gym and a couple of weak elemental attacks, nothing that would do a lot of damage. "Damn" She said to herself. Keeping the sense in her glove, she continued running down the stairs.  
About halfway down, the emergency lights failed and the stairwell became pitch black, despite that, after a moments break to let their eyes adjust, they hurried on, knowing what their path was; down.

A few floors from the bottom a light appeared. Rinoa whispered to her "Is that the exit?" "No," Tifa replied, troubled "The exit is further down and isn't lighted without the emergency lighting. She lifted her glove to use the sense materia.  
"Wait." Rinoa stopped her "Allow me." Tifa looked in her direction and saw a small light, then it was gone.  
"Though so." Rinoa whispered cryptically "it's a Wendigo, that explains the light, their attacks are useless in the dark." "How do you know that, what did you just do?" Tifa demanded quietly "I haven't seen a single materia on you." Rinoa laughed quietly "Don't need it, I have a junction system." "Junction?" "Yeah, I junction a Guardian Force and it allows me to use its powers." Rinoa pointed down "Lets get out of here first and I'll explain it, and then you can explain your materia and how they work." "Great idea" Tifa smiled "well, lets go and see if that Wendigo of yours is a good monster to warm up on."

After a few floors, they met up with the Wendigo, and a few of its friends.  
"Whoa," Tifa stared "he seems to have a bit of backup behind him." "Yeah," Rinoa agreed from behind her "this a good enough 'warm up' then?" "I'll do." Tifa said confidently "I suggest you hold onto something." Tifa then crouched down slightly "Why?" "Just do it! I don't want to make you fall down and hurt yourself because of the shockwave."

She saw Rinoa hold onto the railing. She nodded and concentrated, powering up to her full strength mentally. She rushed at the enemy, as she met up with the Wendigo it took a wild swing at her head, she easily ducked it and countered with dolphin blow. Behind her she heard Rinoa gasp, she didn't have time to reply as the next monster was upon her. She jumped back and as the monster stepped toward her, she then unleashed her Beat Rush throwing the monster into three others that were behind it. She then concentrated hard, forced her fist to close tighter, gathered the energy around her and blew the monsters into pieces with her Final Heaven attack. The shockwave forced the monsters coming up to fall over, except one, which was quickly making up ground on her. Tifa got up to defend herself, but suddenly, Rinoa was there.

A light was coming from her and suddenly, she sprouted wings, they were pure white and the light forced the monster to stop. As the light died down, Rinoa lifted her hand and a beam of light came from it, following the stairs down, obliterating every monster in its path.

"What? How?" Tifa managed, knowing that her jaw had dropped slightly and her eyes were wide.  
"I'm a sorceress." Rinoa said as if that explained it "A sorceress, but…" Tifa started, then thought better of it "Never mind, lets get to the Highwind and you can explain that as well." "Okay," Rinoa agreed, she then got out the way "Lead the way." Tifa nodded and again they started running. 


	6. Chapter 5

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 5

Zack looked up at the tower, he saw the flickering flames spurt out the, now, windowless frames. He smiled as yet another helpless person fell to his doom from one of the higher floors.

He turned to his companion, the unknown thing that had found him. He remembered that time, Zack was searching for his ultimate opponent, but the problem was, there was no-one that could best him. Until, at least, this thing appeared. It had defeated him totally, but for some strange reason, did not kill him. Zack had often wondered why, but could not think up an answer.

Omega turned to Zack and stared at him with his dead eyes, eyes that could make even the most stable person fall into insanity if you just looked into them too long. Zack quickly looked back at the tower.

"We'd better go soon. Before them monsters you rounded up tear the whole place apart." "No need to worry." Omega said in its monologue voice "They are under my control, they will not 'tear the whole place apart'." "If you…?" From down one of the side passages, a bright light came and went "What the hell was that!" Zack shouted over the large explosion that followed Omega stood calmly "High level magical energy discharge. No danger to us, within tolerance levels." "I guess. I'm just going to check it out though." "No need." "Well, I'm going anyway!" Zack quickly walked over to the passageway and looked down it, a little way down was a door, or at least where a door had been. It was now on the other side of the path, in many pieces.  
Out of the exit came two girls, both had dark hair, one was wearing some kind of uniform, while the other looked a little familiar. They ran around the bend at the other end of the passageway.

Zack walked back to where Omega stood "A couple of girls just escaped." "I know," The seemingly human figure answered "A large proportion of the occupants escaped as expected." "These seemed different though, I think I knew one of them, I killed her years ago." "Possibly." Omega intoned "Remember, this is a different world, so it is possible that many of your victims are still alive." It paused and looked at the tower as if scanning it. "Come." It ordered "The time of our ascent is now."

As they entered through the doors, they stepped into a scene of destruction and chaos unlike any Zack had seen before. Fires burned wildly in unexpected places; bodies lay on the ground, many with limbs missing; poisonous gases made the air heavy and gravity fluctuated greatly from one place to the next. No, he had never seen anything like it, but it was a splendid sight to behold.

The two of them went to the elevators at the front of the building. After a press of the button, Zack could tell it wouldn't work.  
"Figures, without power, we will need to walk." "Power is no problem." Omega said as he walked up to the control panel. With a single touch, the panel came to life and the elevator worked.

It only took a while for the two strange companions to reach their destination. They stepped out into a large office, they ignored the books and made their way to the computer terminal at the back. Alike the elevator, it had no power, but again with a touch from Omega, it sparked into life. They could now start their search for the ultimate power.

………

It was dark; damp and dark. There was no light, he could not see. He probed around with his hands and touched earth on every side.

He was alone, but he had never needed anyone; he was trapped, but he knew a way out.

He had felt the changes that were taking place in the world, he could feel the energy that inhabited two entities, one bound by choice and the other bound by time.

He concentrated his own energies and a small light appeared, he had no need of a possible ally who willingly binds its own power, so he chose the other.

As the light expanded and took him, all Hojo could think about was revenge.

………

Ultimecia looked around, trying to get her bearings, it had been a rough ride through the time portal. It had been an experimental procedure, she had sent a number of test subjects through, but as none had returned, either through choice or failure, meant that she would have to risk her own existence in the machine.

She was surrounded by a number of mechanical cubes and in the distance was an enormous statue.

In her mind she heard an echoing voice "Have we made it, mistress?" Holding the ring that was worn on a necklace she sent back her reply "Yes, Griever. You may come out now." "Thank you, Ultimecia." Suddenly a 7 foot beast appeared at her side "Is the target here?" "If she isn't, that historian can measure his life in seconds." Ultimecia answered, feeling her eyes burning

The two of them walked towards the statue. As they approached the base, they slowed their pace. Kneeling on the floor in front of the statue was a figure, it was a female figure but was unlike any woman that Ultimecia had seen before. The figure had a huge build and seemed to stand close to 10 feet tall. There was no motion from the woman as the couple walked up to her.

Ultimecia kicked the figure and a small grunt came from the kneeling woman.  
"Pathetic." Ultimecia sneered, she went to kick the woman again.

As her foot hit the figure, its hand flashed out and grabbed it, the large woman then started to stand but hardly got off the floor before Griever struck her, making her release Ultimecia's foot.

Even as Griever went to Ultimecia's side, an energy burst hit him in the chest and he flew back and hit one of the cubes. Ultimecia looked up at where the energy had come from and saw a large dragon "Bahamut!" "No," The dragon replied "I am Tiamat." Meanwhile, the large woman had got to her feet and towered over Ultimecia. "You're not the only one with a powerful pet, my dear. Nobody challenges Adel and lives!"

Ultimecia quickly glanced to check on Griever, he had responded to the attack by morphing into his ultimate form and he now waited the command to attack from his mistress. She turned back to look at the hulking female figure above her. She started to say something but a new voice interrupted her.

"Despite the fact that this is a fascinating confrontation. I am pretty sure that there will be no winner so I would like to…"

The two women turned to the man that had spoken and raised one of their arms, the two GF's unleashed their attacks on the helpless man.

As the smoke cleared, the man emerged with a strange look on his greenish face "Come on," He laughed "is that all you've got?" He reached into one of the many pockets on his white coat and took out two tablets, he threw them to the ground and a monster appeared from each. They instantly attacked Griever and Tiamat, they exploded on impact and the two Guardian Forces went down; and didn't get back up.

"As I was saying, I would like to propose an alliance between you two and myself." He started laughing and did not stop for quite a while.

……..

Sephiroth looked at where the temple of ancients had been and fell to his knees. As it wasn't there he knew that his last resort to get back at Zack had been used and lost.

Behind him two men and a woman came up to him, they all wore suits and bore confident strides. He got up and turned to them, when they saw him, they hesitated but did still continue to him.

"Excuse me, but are you Sephiroth?" One of the men asked 'What kind of question was that' Sephiroth thought, but aloud he said "Of course I am, who else would I be?" The woman spoke then, with a bit of amazement in her voice "But how! You are meant to be dead!" Sephiroth laughed "Yes, I know. I read my file the last time I was in Midgar, but you should know, I'm not that… me." The last man looked like he wanted to say something but remained silent. The first man instead spoke up "Yes, I'd be willing to believe that, the real Sephiroth would never have returned to this place. Which also means we have a dilemma on our hands, if your not that Sephiroth, who are you?" "You wouldn't believe me, so why should I bother." "Try us."

So Sephiroth explained the situation he had with Zack and his companion and how he made it to this dimension. When he was finished, the three people were looking strangely at him.

After a few moments the talkative man spoke "I think you had better come with us. It may sound strange, but I believe you. We are just about to go and meet with our boss, she might be able to help you or know someone who can." "Okay, then." Sephiroth quickly said "Where are we going?" The woman spoke again "Don't know… Hey Reno, I'll go contact the Highwind to find out where we are to meet." "Go on, once you've done that, take Sephiroth there. Me and Rude are going to see if we can find out any more about this Zack and… who was it?" "Omega" The silent man said "Oh yeah, plus I want to check up on headquarters." "Understood, sir." 


	7. Chapter 6

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 6

Zell was still training in the hanger. As everyone knew, when he trained he immersed himself completely, so much so that he failed to notice the light that started a panic in almost everybody else.

After another 10 minutes, with his training cycle complete, he stopped and looked around. Now that he was more alert, he sensed eyes on him from behind. He turned and saw an old man in strange clothing. The man was sitting on one of the crates in the corner of the hanger, he was also grinning widely.

Zell went up to him "Okay, old man. You've got 10 seconds to tell me who you are and how you got here." Zell tried to make his tone as ominous as possible and prepared his body for combat.  
"Impetuous, aren't you, young man!" He laughed. That put Zell off "Do you really want to strike down an old man."

Zell thought quickly then shook his head and lowered his guard, but as soon as he did, the old man shot at him like a bullet and took Zell down with a flurry of blows.

"Lesson 1," The old man said reaching out with a hand to help Zell up "don't let your guard down, even to an old man like me." Zell took the mans hand and got up "How did you do that, old man, I recognised that move and I made it up, no-one else knows it." The old man looked deeply into Zell's eyes "Honestly." "Of course." Zell said confidently, but there was something about the old mans voice "Lots of people know basic martial arts. Hell, I taught a lot of them, but my style is unique and I hope, will always remain that way." "Interesting…" The old man returned to the crates and sat down again "Oh, my names Zengan, I'm a teacher of martial arts, more specifically, your style of martial arts." He thought for a second "Tell me, do you know the Final Heaven attack?" "…Yes." Zell replied hesitantly "Could you do it for me?" Zengan asked "…Yes, but why?" Zell was puzzled "Just humour me."

Zell nodded, still wondering what to think of this old man.  
He chose two empty crates across the hanger. He readied himself and ran, ever increasing his speed, he shot past he crates and continued, still gaining speed.  
He raised his fist and struck the first crate as he past it, but he didn't stop, he raised his other fist and similarly struck the second crate, finally coming to a stop. He turned to the old man and walked back.

Zengan was looking at Zell with a strange expression and clapped. "Strange technique to it, using an increase in speed like that to inflict more damage, very unconventional." "Hey, if it works, why should I change it." "Whoa," Zengan quickly said "I didn't say it didn't work, I just said it was unconventional. Besides…" "ZELL!"

Zell jumped at the sound of his name and turned to see who it was. Fiona was running to him as fast as she could, she was also crying "What's up, Fiona?" "Its…, Its…, Its…" She stammered trying to find the words and get her breath back at the same time.

Surprisingly, Zengan spoke directly to her "Calm down!" Fiona lifted her head in surprise to look at the old man "A soldier must remain calm and collected at all times, even in the face of extreme danger."

Fiona nodded and took a moment to gather herself "Its Squall and the others, they've disappeared." "WHAT!" Zell shouted creating an echo in the large room.  
Behind him, Zengan spoke "I wonder, must have been that unnatural light." "What light?" Zell asked puzzled Zengan laughed "You missed it? Boy, you really get involved in your training, don't you!" "This is no time for jokes, old man." Zell's girlfriend snapped "Do you know what going on!" She then started to get out one of her throwing knifes.

Zell was taken back by Fiona's uncharacteristic outburst. He decided to head her off before something bad happened "Fiona, who disappeared?" Realising that she may have gone to far, she calmed down and reported "Squall, Rinoa, Seifer and Selphie. Plus Dr Kadowaki reports that various other members of SeeD are missing, as well as some of the students." "Very well." Zell though for a second "I supp… Wait, do you hear that?"

From the distance, they heard a distinctive sound.

Zengan got up off the crate and started walking. He stopped and turned to the two SeeD's "What are you waiting for, come on!"

………

Irvine was in the classroom still as the light faded, he didn't see anything different but he got his gun ready, only to duck just as a bullet went over his head and hit the wall. He shot back at where the bullet had come from and heard his bullet hit the opposite wall as he ducked back into his defensive position.

"Who are you?" Irvine called out and waited for the reply. Instead a barrage of bullets hit the desk and wall near where he was 'This guy's good' Irvine thought 'I can't make a noise or he'll shoot in that direction.'

That gave him an idea. He took out one of his bullets and threw it away from himself, he then started to crawl to another position but did not get very far as a shower of bullets sprayed in his path and forced him to retreat back to his original position 'This guy's very good' again, Irvine thought 'I've got to outthink him, otherwise I'm dead.'

He risked a glance around the desk, trying to be as silent as possible. What he saw was a man, but a very evil-looking man. He wore a cloak that was the colour of blood and had clawed hands. In his right hand he held a pistol, which was extended in front of him. He was also positioned in plain sight so he had a view of the entire classroom and could easily see any plan Irvine came up with to move from his current position.

Irvine decided that if he couldn't move, he had no other option but to face him head on, hoping that he could out draw the opponent. He loaded his gun and reached as far as he could with his arm away from him and audibly cocked it. When there was no fire from the enemy, he waited for 17 seconds. After that time he got up, aimed and fired in a single movement. His decoy had worked, the other man had aimed away from where he was to where he had sounded his gun, so he had to adjust before he could shoot.

There was a satisfying grunt as the bullet his Irvine's opponent in the right arm, making him drop his gun. Strangely though, instead of raising his other arm in surrender, the crimson-caped man stood there with a strange expression on his face.

"You shouldn't have done that." Was all he said.

Irvine couldn't believe what he saw next, the other man seemed to change, slightly at first but then more pronounced. Suddenly Irvine wasn't facing a man who could pass for a demon, he faced a demon.

Before he could gather his wits, the demon charged at him. Acting on impulse Irvine, quickly unleashed his remaining bullets on the creature, but they didn't have any effect and only Irvine honed reflects saved him as he jumped out of the way in time.

The demon started to turn and Irvine quickly hid to both regain his composure and replace his bullets. Irvine decided that this creature couldn't be running around the Garden, so he had to do something drastic. Loading up his pulse-type ammo, he quickly came up with a plan. He slowly backed to the nearest wall, trying not attract the attention of the demon. He then got up and let the demon see him.

As soon as the demon saw him, it rushed at him. Irvine waited and waited, and jumped out of the way at the last second. The demon crashed into the wall and collapsed. Irvine ran to the door. He was ready, just in case the ammo didn't work, to make a hasty retreat.

The demon quickly recovered and, now completely enraged, charged. Irvine blasted his ammo at it, but again, it had no effect. Irvine went to open the door to go through, but he had miscalculated the demon's speed, it was almost on him. Irvine braced himself as best he could and closed his eyes.

After a while. Too long a while, he opened them. To find himself staring into the creatures face. He looked down to lose sight of the hideous mask that was in front of him and saw a spear pointing uncomfortably on the demon's chest. He followed the spears shaft and saw a middle-aged man holding it.

The man was looking at him "Good, still alive." He said, then turning to look directly into the demon's eyes "Vincent! Calm down! You may have brushed off them bullets, but you know that my spear will hurt you." To prove his point he poked the demon with the spear and the demon gave out a horrendous roar of pain.

The demon backed away and retreated to the other side of the room.

Irvine turned to face the man that had saved him "Thanks." "Don't mention it, sonny." The man was smiling. Irvine took a good look at the man and saw he was wearing strange clothing, some that Irvine had never seen before.

The door opened suddenly and Cid came into the room, half afraid "I-Is the-that… thing g-gone?" He said in a weak voice, he had obviously seen the demon and retreated out the door instantly.  
"No, not yet." The spear-wielding man said, pointing over to where the demon was and now stood the man who wore the blood-coloured cloak and claws.  
"Don't play about, Cid." Irvine jumped at the name "That isn't the same thing that was attacking Irvine." "Allow me to clear that up, Cid." The demon-man retrieved his dropped gun and holstered it, then turned to face the headmaster "In fact, that devil was me, I have the power to change into four different beasts depending on my rage. The problem is that I lose control and go berserk." "That explains the over-reaction just now." Irvine said pleasantly, picking up his shotgun, that he had unknowingly dropped, and also holstered it.  
"Yeah, sorry about that." The man apologised "It must have been the light that set me off." the cloaked man then looked strangely at Irvine, and reached out with a clawed hand "I'm Vincent, former Turks sharpshooter. I'm assuming that you're a pro, no amateur could pull off that little all-in-one shot stunt unless he was." Irvine took it gratefully, knowing that this gunfight was over "Yup, name's Irvine. Interesting little duel, that was, haven't had a challenge like that for quite a while. It was refreshing."

Cid spoke up impatiently "Okay, Okay, that covers the introductions, can someone please answer the million-gil question. Where the hell are we and what are we doing here?"

………

On Horizon Bridge, a train was going along the track to Esthar. In the executive carriage, a group of people were sitting down, two were alert and with roving eyes checked the carriage often.

The other man sat alone opposite them. He had his eyes closed and was pondering his life and the roads he had taken. He was returning after an emotional visit to his friends grave in Winhill, they had been more than friends but she had died before anything could happen between them. He had placed on the grave a single white flower and had kept one for himself. He did this as often as his political duties allowed and was always shunned by the people of Winhill when he did, because in their minds, it was his fault that their villager and best friend had died. Despite this they never stopped him from paying his respects and he was grateful, albeit silently, for that honour.

One of the alert men called his name, making him open his eyes "President Laguna, Sir. We'll be there in a couple of minutes." "Thank you, Biggs." Laguna replied, re-closing his eyes and waited for the train to stop.

He had found Biggs and Wedge in an Esthar prison, they had just quit the Galbadian Army, so they were still in their uniforms and had been mistaken for active members. After Laguna had talked with the two of them, he had them released and offered them employment as his bodyguards. It was thought by Laguna that because of their military background they would do a good job.  
Biggs and Wedge had accepted eagerly and over the year since they started have done an excellent job. They totally confided in Laguna and had told him of their encounters with Squall and his SeeD companions, which had given them the bulk of their experience. Laguna had been impressed by that because he knew of SeeD's ruthlessness in battle.

Near the station, there was an announcement from the driver 'Ding Dong. Last stop Seaside Station Trading Post. Travellers to Esthar, their train will depart from Platform 2, ten minutes from the time of arrival. Thank you for travelling Horizon Railways. I repeat…'

Laguna opened his eyes again and looked at his two bodyguards "Hey Biggs, Wedge. I heard in FH that the siege of Deling City was over. What about after I get on the train to Esthar, you two return to Galbadia to see your families; you both deserve a break."

Biggs and Wedge looked shocked for a moment but quickly recovered "Thank you, Sir." Wedge said "I would like to see my sister, Jessie, again." "Indeed," Biggs added "I would like to see my mother, as well." "Good, I'm glad that's settled. Oh, looks like its time to get off."

As the train rolled into the station, there was a lot of confusion. The trio had a hard time getting off the train due to a lot of panicked people trying to get on.

After they finally got off, they looked around and saw two familiar figures talking to the station master.

Laguna had to shout to be heard over the noise of the crowd "KIROS! WARD! What's going on?" The two men jumped slightly and turned to see the three of them "What took you, Laguna?" "I stopped over in FH to talk to…" He frowned "Hey, Hey, Hey, don't change the subject. What's going on? Why are you here?" Laguna looked from face to face and saw Ward's. He had an expression that said 'isn't it obvious.' "Yes, I know it's obvious, Ward. Your evacuating, what I want to know is… why?

Kiros quickly asked the station master if there was anywhere that they could talk without being overheard. The man nodded and led them to an empty square room and then left to oversee the loading of the train.

"Right," Kiros started "as far as we know, a large Dragon appeared to the east of Esthar and proceeded to destroy everything in its wake as it proceeded toward the palace. At the same time, a strange beast appeared to the west and did the same. Ward and myself were with Dr Odine in his lab at the time discussing the strange light that appeared earlier. So, we sounded the evacuation from there and led the column to here. I immediately sent word to FH and they agreed to accept the refugees temporarily." Laguna was worried and he knew that his face was showing it "Two questions, does the Doc know who's behind this?" Ward shook his head and Kiros confirmed it "No, he has a few theories but does not have the evidence to back them up." "Okay, where's Ellone? I didn't see her with you when I first arrived here." "Yeah, she decided to visit Quistis at 'New Lunar Base'. She left just after seeing you off to Winhill." "That's good to hear. At least she's safe for now." Laguna thought for a moment "Wait a sec! There aren't many dragons in the world, at least ones with intelligence, was Odine able to identify it." "The dragon?" "Yes, the dragon. Quickly it's important." "Err, now that you mention it, he surmised under his breath that it was either Bahamut or one of his family members." "Bahamut has a family?" "Yeah, according to Dr. Odine, he's the crown prince of dragons. He has a brother who is meant to look a lot like him. I think Odine said his name was Tiamat, and he has a major jealousy problem." "It must be him then, Bahamut holds his allegiance to SeeD and from what I've heard about him, he'll continue to honour that trust until the end of time if necessary."

Ward was looking impatient and grunted to show it.  
Laguna and Kiros picked up on this and quickly concluded the conversation.

"How does that help us?" Kiros asked "Dr. Odine was and is the leading researcher of Guardian Forces in the world so…" "He should have a list of who has what GF junctioned." "Exactly." Laguna cheered, Kiros had understood "Then we'll be able to figure out who is behind the attack." Laguna got up "Come on, we need to get word to SeeD." "Why?" "Because we are going to need back up. We'll return to Esthar and do the research and they can meet us at the lab." Kiros looked down "Does that mean we have to fight again." He said moodily "I was hoping my days of that were over. I'm also out of shape." Laguna laughed and that brightened the place a bit "Out of Shape? You? Give me a break! I've seen you on the training fields. You may not have your youthful zip anymore, but you were still running rings around men half your age. So stop complaining and lets get going." Smiles returned to Kiros and Ward's faces. Smiles that said silently 'its good to have the old Laguna back.'

As Laguna turned to leave the room, he caught sight of Biggs and Wedge. Biggs spoke up "Sir, we have had a quick discussion and have decided to decline your offer to return to Galbadia for a break. We believe that, as your bodyguards, your safe…" "Okay, Okay." Laguna interrupted "No need for long-winded descriptions, glad to have you along, now come on."

They all left the room and went to find a radio to send their message to Garden.

………

Cid was sitting in the cafeteria impatiently. It had been almost 3 hours since he had arrived in this 'world' and stopped Vincent from killing that kid, Irvine. He had, then, left them to discuss what was going on with the light and disappearance (or transportation) of many people. Now that he had eaten, he was bored and wanted something to do.

He got up and went to the directory. He scanned it and saw one of the sections labelled 'Front Gate/Hanger'. That grabbed his attention "They have planes on this world?" He said to himself "Hell, What am I waiting here for then!"

He quickly walked out the door and through the corridors to the front section. He walked though the gates and stopped. He could not believe his eyes. In front of him was two ships. One black, one red and both shaped like dragons "Whoa…" He managed in awe. He then heard footsteps and turned to see Irvine walking to him "You bored too?" Irvine smiled "I guess, planning sessions aren't really my style. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you again, Cid." "And I'm just going to say 'don't worry about it' again" Cid's tone was subdued though and his eyes returned to the two aircraft "If you really want to thank me though, you could let me look around them ships." He pointed "Err, yeah, well. You like them?" "Like 'em, #!&/ hell. I love 'em, I haven't seen another ship this beautiful since my Highwind." He started toward the red one.  
"You're a pilot," Irvine said shocked "well that's different, ok… Hey, not that one! The other one." Cid stopped and looked back at Irvine, then the black ship "Nah, the red ones better, I can see from here it's got better performance." "Better… You could tell by looking?… Okay, but don't touch anything. Its my friends and she doesn't like anyone tinkering with her ship." He then hurried after Cid.

After a quick look around, they got to the cockpit, Cid looked and went to the pilots seat. Irvine tried to stop him, but it was no use and Cid sat down.  
He looked at the controls and took in with a glance what they meant "Fuel, Engines, Weapons, Shields, Brakes, Steering. Okay. Hey Irvine, I suggest you strap yourself in, here we go." "Noooo." Irvine yelled, but it was too late, Cid had hit the start-up and the ship flew out the hanger. Irvine hit the back wall and was dazed for a moment but quickly recovered and came to the front "Are you crazy? Do you know how much trouble I will be in if Selphie gets word of this?" Irvine did, though, strap himself in, just in case Cid tried anything stupid.

He did. He set the nose facing straight down and just before hitting the ground pulled up and straight into a roll which ended with the ship upside down and about 50 feet from ground level. After about another 5 minutes of stunts, Cid finally put the ship on a course for Garden, as it was called, and set the autopilot.

He turned the chair to face Irvine who was white with fright and looked like he wanted to throw up.

"This beauty handles better than I thought." He laughed "Does this ship have a name?" "Wh-What," Irvine stammered, still recovering "Oh, Ragnorok." "Ragnorok, eh. Good choice, an excellent name for an exceptional ship." "Umm, how did we get so far from Garden, I can't see it in front of us." Cid laughed again "We're not. I'm just taking us the long way round so I can get a feel for being in the air again." "What's that supposed to mean?" but Cid did not answer. He just sat there with his eyes closed.

After about a half hour, Cid opened his eyes and turned to Irvine. It looked as through he had decided to sit back and enjoy the ride as well, because he seemed more relaxed and peaceful.

Cid was just about to start talking when a large sound interrupted him. The Ragnorok's autopilot cut off and Cid quickly turned to regain control of the ship. As an afterthought he powered up the shields and readied the weapons. Almost immediately after he did there was an impact of the left side of the ship. Irvine was now fully alert.

"We're under attack!" "Thank you for that, Mr Obvious!" Cid retorted "Where's it coming from?" "Left side, 200 feet." Irvine shouted after looking at the scanners.

Cid turned the ship to face the attacker and caught a slight glimpse of a large dragon before moving the ship in a corkscrew pattern to avoid another energy blast by the narrowest of margins. He then fired the Ragnorok's main cannon once, which caught the dragon off guard for a second. Cid increased the speed to maximum and shot past the dragon before it could recover. The dragon didn't pursue, and redirected his energies to the large city below them.

Irvine was reaching for the comm. unit.

"Ragnorok to Garden, Ragnorok to Garden. Emergency situation." "Garden her, Ragnorok." Cid heard his namesake reply over the speaker "Irvine, what are you doing up there." "Explain later. We've just been attacked by a dragon over Esthar. We managed to get past it, but the dragon is now attacking the city. Do you want us to return?" "Not just yet, Irvine. We've received word from President Laguna stating that the city was under attack. I now need you to fly over Esthar and read the current situation." Cid spoke up to be heard "Hey, Headmaster. This is Cid, I'm not an expert on magic or stuff like that, but from my experiences in the past, I'm willing to bet that the dragon that is attacking that city is Bahamut." "Bahamut!" Another voice interrupted "No way, he's junctioned to me at the moment. I would feel it if someone had called him and he was loose."

'Junction,' Cid thought 'what's that?'

Irvine snapped his fingers "That's it! Zell, do you remember that time in Ultimecia's castle. There was a dragon in there, it kind-of looked like Bahamut didn't it." "Oh yeah," Zell replied "Squall told me about that one, can't remember what he called it though. But, we faced him in the future, does he exist in this time." "Must do. Cid… Headmaster Cid," He said quickly "We'll scout over Esthar and then return to Garden." "Good luck, Irvine. Garden out." Cid finished. Irvine turned the comm. unit off and turned to Cid "Well then, shall we go?" Cid had to ask "Might as well. Do you want to take the controls?" Irvine was shocked "What? With your skills! Nobody's ever done what you did with this ship. Plus, who knows what else is over that city. We may need them skills again." "Okay then, Irvine, hang on!"

Irvine did as Cid flipped the Ragnorok 180° and literally flew back to the largest city that Cid had ever seen. 


	8. Chapter 7

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 7

She was still hunting materia but was, now, a little less enthusiastic about it since the original reason for collecting them had disappeared.  
It was just sort of a hobby now, something to keep her interests up.

And she had just returned to Wutai for a break.  
As she had arrived in town, Shake had run up to her. She had told Yuffie to get to the Pagoda tower as soon as possible.

If didn't take long and when Yuffie got there, she looked up at the tower. Remembering her challenge a year ago, to climb the tower and battle on each of the five levels, with the last being her own father.

She stepped up to the large doors and entered. Inside she saw Gordi who sat in his normal position. He seemed calm and relaxed but Yuffie knew that he was alert and hid a tremendous power, which he would use on any who dared to intrude upon the tower and threatened the peaceful nature of the Pagoda. He greeted her formally and informed her of a stranger on the top floor. That was a surprise… a person allowed to the top floor.

Yuffie ran up the stairs, as she reached the top floor, her father turned to her and put his finger to his lips to inform his daughter to be quiet. Yuffie saw that Godo had his medical herbs with him. She also saw a blanket in front of him. She walked up beside her father. In front of him was a girl who seemed a little older than herself. The girl was covered by the blanket and asleep, she also had one of Godo's rarer herbs resting on her forehead.

Yuffie knelt down "What's going on, Old Coot! Who's the girl?" "Watch your mouth, girl!" Godo retorted quietly, he then laughed softly and said "Not sure. She does have some lucid moments but nothing has been said except a phrase over and over." "Okay then. Next question. Where did she come from?" "Oddly, I have no idea. You know of the recent light." Yuffie nodded "Well I was meditating atop Da-chao when it came, she appeared as it left. She must have been disorientated because she lost her footing and fell. It was pure luck that she didn't fall too far or she would not have lived." "Why did you bring her here though? Yuffie asked, slightly confused by the story "Wouldn't the hotel be more appropriate?" "Normally, yes. See that weapon over there though." He pointed to one on the walls, resting on it was a pair of ornate sticks attached to each other by a long chain.  
Yuffie's eyes widened "A shinobo" She said with genuine delight. She went silently, as not to wake the girl, to the weapon. She picked it up and hefted it a couple of times, it was of less than average weight, which was understandable considering that the girl was quite small. She then went into a standard stance for that kind of weapon and tested it a couple of times. The weapon was very well balanced and, Yuffie considered, that in a trained persons hand, the nunchuku would be immensely powerful.  
"What a weapon!" Yuffie said impressed "This is hers?" Godo nodded "We found it on her, so unless she stole it, it belongs to her." He smiled "Either way, she deserves to come here." Yuffie had put down the weapon and laughed aloud That caused a stir from the girl as she slowly regained consciousness. Yuffie put her hands to her mouth and went to her fathers side and knelt down. The girls eyes were open but they were glazed which meant that she had not yet recovered fully. She then spoke, by it came out in a slur.

"Irvine, fly me away." She was obviously still dreaming "Fly me away to the flower fields of Winhill." The girl then closed her eyes and a smile formed on her face.  
"At least she's happy." Yuffie said uncomfortably, she hadn't understood any of the girls daydream.  
"That's the phrase I mentioned." Godo said, just as uncomfortably "At least her fever has gone, she's now sleeping peacefully. I think we should leave her here for the night and question her when she wakes tomorrow."

Yuffie nodded and watched as Godo got up and walked to the stairs. She then turned to the girl and took the herb off her forehead. She then got up and started to walk to the stairs herself. She stopped for a second to look back at the soundly sleeping girl.

'Things are going to get pretty interesting soon.' She surmised and then left the top floor of the pagoda to the quiet sound of the girls breathing.

………

Junon had not changed, there was still the heavy scent of machinery in the air. It was still a port for cruise ships to Costa Del Sol, but also was still a military airbase.

Tifa was sitting on the observation deck of the Highwind, it was dangerous to be out on it during flight because of the speed that the Highwind could now achieve, but as it was standing patiently on the Junon Airstrip, she had decided to get some air, she had just heard some news that was hurting her.

It had been an eventful day. First she finally got word of her friends after so long, next she was being attacked by monsters and getting saved by a girl she hardly knew. The girl. Rinoa, hadn't recognised anyone when they had boarded the Highwind and had decided to be alone, not talking to anyone, not even Tifa.

Tifa got up. It was time to speak to Rinoa about what was happening. The thing is, Tifa didn't know where to look for her. After a good while of looking around the entire Junon town for her, and not succeeding, Tifa returned to the Highwind wondering. How can a girl with such a obvious uniform, disappear so easily.

Tifa went to the bridge to ask if anyone there had seen her. The first person she asked just pointed to the sunken area in the corner of the Bridge. Tifa was surprised and walked over to the area. Rinoa was there and looked up and nodded in acknowledgement as Tifa approached, but didn't do anything. She continued sitting there holding two rings on a necklace around her neck with one hand and concentrating on some small jewels around her.

As Tifa got closer, she noticed that the jewels were materia.

"Why aren't you outside?" Tifa asked through the noise of the Bridge crew doing repairs.  
Rinoa looked up and looked Tifa in the eyes "What's the point?" "To see if anyone you know is around?" Tifa held her gaze.  
"There isn't!" Rinoa said adamantly, to explain she continued "I've already been around the base. I haven't seen anyone I recognise." "Oh," Tifa paused "I'm sorry." She looked away "Don't worry about it… Huh?" Rinoa looked at Tifa closely "What's wrong? You don't look happy." Tifa sighed "Does it show?" Rinoa nodded "Damn, got to work on that. Oh well, I can tell you, I guess." She paused for a few moments "I just got word from one of my special forces. She says that she is bringing a guest." "A guest?" Rinoa's eyes brightened "Any idea who?" Tifa shook her head "No, she didn't say. Elena, the person I spoke to, did say I'd recognise him though." "Oh… it's for you then." "Yeah, but when Elena and her guest get here, no matter who it is! You and I are going to look for your friends." "We are?" Rinoa was stunned "Yes we are! I promise you, we will find them. We can use the Highwind to do just that." Tifa knew it would be hard, but she did think that if the person with Elena wasn't Cloud, she would surely find him on the road while looking for Rinoa's friends. "I see you have some materia there." Quickly changing the subject.  
Rinoa looked down at the jewels "Yeah, I can't seem to figure it out though." "I'll show you." Tifa sat down facing Rinoa "After I've taught you the basics, how about we go out and get something to eat." Rinoa nodded, suddenly hungry.  
Tifa started her description of materia. After she finished and a few questions from Rinoa, the two girls left the Highwind.

………

The wind was blowing very hard, it was a cool wind but it came at them very quickly.

Squall was walking toward a mountainous terrain alongside his new companion.  
Cloud was a very strange person. He was abnormally strong for a person his size, but with the sword he carried added to that strength, he was almost unstoppable. It had only been Squall's training and experience that had helped him battle to a standstill. 

On their journey, the two of them had battled a number of monsters. The monsters themselves had not been too difficult to kill. The problem was that both he and Cloud kept getting in each others way. They always seemed to be either going after the same enemy or making a similar manoeuvre and bumping into each other. Squall had not made a fuss about it, because he may need Cloud's help to get home. The fact that Cloud hadn't mentioned the incidents, though, was very puzzling. There was a very tense silence as they walked. Plus, because Cloud carried his sword, Squall had decided to not take his hand from the hilt of his sword, in case of an ambush.

Squall noticed the sky turning red and dark "Looks like it'll be dark soon, Cloud." He noted, breaking through the wind that only seemed to exaggerate the silence. Cloud looked up and then at Squall "Huh. Oh, right, sorry. It's fine, we've got a while yet. You see the sun reflects off the cliffs and turns the sky a murky colour. It's always like this." "Oh." Squall said simply "You sure?" "Yeah, we should easily make it to the next town by night." Cloud pointed to a nearby cliff.

Over in the distance was a large collection of building with what looked like a telescope coming out the top, the buildings were tightly placed against the rock face of the cliffs and it was almost like the town had simply grown out of the canyon.

A couple of miles from the town, the two men met up with a large grey beast. Cloud had seen the creature and looked shocked but didn't slow down nor did he ready himself for battle, once they were close enough to the lion-like animal, it spoke.

"It's about time!" Squall jumped back and reached for his gunblade. The beast growled audibly "Don't do that, I'm not going to attack you." Cloud, with a strange expression on his face, stepped forward and knelt to look directly into its eyes "Are you…, Seto?" "Yes," the creature nodded "You must be Cloud. Nanaki has spoken very highly of you. I would like to thank you for taking care of him last year." "No problem, he was very helpful, he took as much care of us as we did of him." Seto laughed, it was a kind of looping laugh, more a yap "Well, knowing my son, he probably did." He turned his large head slightly toward Squall "Who's your uptight friend, he has a peculiar scent, like he doesn't belong here." Before Cloud could talk, Squall answered "The name's Squall, I'm sorry I overreacted but I don't like surprises and a talking beast IS kind of surprising." "Talking what…" Seto said dangerously.  
Seeing this, Cloud quickly broke in "Squall appeared while I was in Nibelheim, we are on our way to Corel for the next stage of my journey, and to see if we could find anyone he knows."

Outwardly forgetting the insult that Squall had made, Seto turned toward the town "Why don't you stop for the night at Cosmo Canyon then, you can meet up with Nanaki and meet his mate." "Mate? Well, thanks" Cloud accepted "By the way, how did you recover from your petrification?" The three of them started moving towards the town. "Strange you ask that, you know of the light," Cloud nodded "A strange bottle appeared after it went, Nanaki was with me at the time so he found it. The label on it was blurred but he could make out the word 'soft'. He decided to try it and surprisingly, to both of us, it worked and I was cured." "Whoa," Cloud said surprised "It must have been powerful stuff to cure you! With all them arrows in you." He looked at Squall "Maybe it came from the other world, Squall, do you know of a potion that could cure permanent petrification." Squall, surprised at being asked a question, thought about it but had to shake his head "No, I don't know of a cure like that, I don't think that there is one on my world." "Okay." It was Cloud's turn to think "You know that could mean that it came from yet another world. That could mean that there could be more than just our two worlds that have overlapped." "I have an idea," Seto spoke up "Bugenhagen's machine has been recording information since before the Sephiroth crisis and it might give us some idea of what could be happening." As Cloud and Squall entered the town, Seto spoke again "Why don't you get something to eat while I go get the machine ready. I'm sure that you two are hungry and could use the rest after your journey."

The two of them nodded and Cloud led the way to the inn. The two got something to eat and went outside and ate by the fire that was outside. Squall was a bit worried about eating outside but was put at ease when he saw that the fire, which the innkeeper had called the Cosmo Candle was in the open and he could see all around him while he ate.

………

Barret was worried. He didn't show it, but he was.

Business was bad, a number of the Coal mines had been infested with monsters. The light had made a few of his workers disappear. And now, Marlene had run off with a few of the boys of the town to explore one of the mine shafts.

What made the fact worse was that none of the remaining workers wanted to help Barret search for them.

"Why won't you help me!" Barret demanded of the people around him "Aren't your children in danger too?" One of the townspeople shouted at him "Of course, but we can't fight these monsters, we're only coal miners." "Only coal miners!" Barret was stunned "You risk your life everyday in the mines and now you don't have the courage to get rid of a few monsters for the sake of saving your children!"

The crowd stood there in silence, no-one even dared to look at Barret.

Barret shook his head "Fine!" He said in disgust "I guess I'll have do go alone! Again!"

He pushed his way through the crowd and headed for the road to the mines. At the end of the town, he spotted a man in a long white coat. Barret recognised him as the mercenary that appeared after the light. The mercenary was looking at him directly.

"Nice speech," He said sarcastically "I'd say you convinced… let's see. Oh, none of them." "What's your problem, merc!" Barret said threateningly The mercenary remained calm "Was just going to offer my services. Actually, I'm going to insist. I'm getting bored around here." "Why would you want to help me?" Barret was even more suspicious now.  
"Like I said, I'm bored. But also, that girl of yours has helped me out a bit. I need to repay the favour.

Barret knew it was the truth. The mercenary didn't have any money and Marlene had given him some food and paid for a room from her own money, which she earned from doing odd jobs for the townspeople. Barret had always wanted to thank Tifa for helping him to bring up Marlene to the amazing girl she is.

"Okay, you can come." Barret said "You might be more useful than the others around here anyway." The mercenary nodded "Definitely. Well, let's go."

The two men ran to the main entrance of the mine. At the entrance was one of Barret's workers.

"Barret! At last" The worker said "What's up, Brian?" "Marlene and the boys went down shaft three" "WHAT!" Barret roared "YOU SAW THEM, BUT DIDN'T STOP THEM!" "But… But, I was carrying the tools at the time." "You should have dropped them then!" Barret was beyond furious "What's more important! Them tools, or the children!" "Well…" The mercenary interrupted "Leave him alone, Barret. You can deal with him later." Barret turned to the man in the long coat "What!" "Believe me, I'm as angry as you are at this jerk. But we need to find the children first. They are the priority at the moment." Barret calmed down a bit, having to admit the mercenary had a valid point. At that moment he realized that he didn't know the man's name. He did know, though, that now wasn't the time to ask.

Barret looked at the worker with a look of sheer venom "Wait here! If we find the children, we'll be telling them to run here. Your job is to see that they get home safely. Do you think you can do that?" The worker gulped and nodded "Good, come on." Barret said waving for the mercenary to follow him "This way."

The two of them ran to the third opening, there they stopped and looked around. There were a number of passageways leading from this area. Suddenly they heard a large roar, it came from the smallest passage. They ran down it as quickly as possible, as it widened into another opening, Barret saw four boys run in from the other side. They saw Barret as well, Barret signalled for them to leave. They nodded. As they ran past Barret, the last said quickly "Marlene, behind, coming."

After a few seconds, which seemed a lot longer, Marlene emerged from the hole. She saw Barret and didn't stop. She ran as fast as she could but as she passed Barret, she said one word "Monster."

Barret thought for a second and then stepped behind a rock which shielded him from the hole. He peeked around to see the monster as it entered the cavern. It was large and slow moving, which was probably why Marlene and the boys were able to escape it. It also had 3 heads.

The monster headed for the passageway Barret had entered by and that Marlene had just ran down. Barret stepped out and stood there in the way, blocking it's path to the children. The monster saw him and charged.

As it thrust for him with the middle head, Barret sidestepped and wrapped his gun arm around the neck of the monster, he then grabbed the arm with his good arm, holding the monster firmly in a headlock. The other two heads tried to attack him but Barret dragged the head he held underneath the body of the monster, where the other heads couldn't reach.

As Barret looked around for what to do next, he saw the mercenary sitting on a rock to the side of the monster. He was smiling broadly.

"What you smirking at, merc!" Barret demanded, still holding the head.  
"Just admiring your strength, it takes quite a lot of it to hold a monster like that. Especially with one arm. Maybe the stories they say about you are true." "You think this is strength? Just wait till this monster is dead. Then I'll show you strength! Unless, of course, you want to help." The mercenary shrugged and got up "Okay then, hold it tight." "What do you think I'm doing?"

But the mercenary wasn't listening. He raised his hand and cast a fire spell. The monster shrieking in pain. The mercenary then started spinning, his blade outstretched. As the blade struck the monster, it left a deep gash in the side. But the attack didn't stop, the next strike severed a leg. As it continued, the monster howled in pain, it struggled harder to escape Barret's grip but he just closed his eyes and held on tighter.

Then, suddenly, there was a ripping sound, and then a large thud to Barret's side. He looked over at where it came from and saw the monsters body on the floor lifeless. He then realised that he was still holding the middle head. He looked at it and saw a look of fear on the severed head's face. He casually discarded the lifeless head behind him and looked around for the mercenary.

He was sitting on the same rock which he had started on.

Barret walked over to him "Now, lets get out of here. We've done what we came to do." The mercenary nodded and the two started walking back to the main entrance.  
Halfway, Barret finally asked "What's your name?" The mercenary ignored him 


	9. Chapter 8

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 8

Zell was looking around the lower section of the bridge of Garden. Every face had a sombre expression. Dr. Kadowaki had just given her report about the disappearances. The main casualties were Squall, Rinoa, Seifer and Selphie but that was not the only problem, many SeeD members had been admitted to the infirmary with mild insanity. The Doctor had been hard pressed to deal with them all. Despite the fact that Zangen, Vincent and the other Cid had appeared there was a shortage of manpower to deal with Esthar's distress call.

Cid (The headmaster) spoke up "Thank you, Dr Kadowaki. Until Irvine and Cid get back, we don't know what the current situation is, until then I want Zell and Fiona to call as many able-bodied SeeD members as possible, gather them in the quad, then pick two teams of eight. I'll assign them to the squads, tell them to go to their rooms and get some rest for the morning. That will be when you leave." "Will that be enough, headmaster?" Fiona asked "And why tomorrow morning? We don't know what's going on and the extra time will give them time to fortify." "Been reading up, I see." Fiona blushed as Cid continued "I'm hoping that it will be enough. We need to co-ordinate our attack with President Laguna and his parties attack, plus we only need to go for the main places. The palace and the laboratory, they're the two nerve centres, whoever is running the show will be at one of them two places." Zell accepted his assignment with the customary salute, knowing it was usually better to go along with the headmasters plans "Okay, come on Fiona, lets go to the comm."

………

Vincent looked on as Zell went up a lift to the main control section.

Cid called his name and got his attention "Vincent, I would like you to lead a squad." Vincent just stood there "Why me?" "I believe that we may be up against an opponent from your world. We may need your experience against him or her." "We're not going 'til morning, so I'll give you my answer then. I need to sleep on it." "Sure, but do think about it." "Of course. You never know, I might even be able to give you an idea of who your up against as well."

Vincent turned with a grand wave of his cape and walked from the room leaving Cid, wondering what he meant, behind him.

………

Irvine jumped down from the ramp of the Ragnorok and ran around the side and stopped suddenly. There in the armour was a large hole. Cid came round and joined him.

"Selphie's gonna kill me!" Irvine cried out "Irvine," Cid said "Let me deal with this. You need to go see Cid, remember?  
"Err, oh yeah, see ya later."

As Irvine left, Cid turned to a couple of kids talking by some crates "Hey, you two. Get over here!" The two looked at him then each other and walked over to him cautiously "Yes, sir?" "Do you have any armour panels for this ship here?" "…Yes, but we don't have the expertise to fit them." Cid stood patiently "Don't worry about that, I can fit them, but I'm going to need help holding it in place. Can you show me the panels and we'll bring them over." "Well…" "Come on, Irvine needs this done today." At the mention of Irvine's name, they nodded "Okay, follow us."

………

In the room, a number of machines were working. Inside a capsule, there was a large woman. The capsule was filled with a thick mist. As it cleared, the woman thrashed and twisted in pain.

Outside, there was a man. A man in a white scientist coat. He was laughing.

The door of the capsule opened. The woman stepped out and stretched. She loomed over the man. She said something and turned to the capsule, she had come out of. A ball of energy left her hands and destroyed the machine. The man ran to it and examined the wreckage. He turned to the woman, but she shimmered and disappeared.

Through a door, the other side of the room, another woman appeared. This time a lot smaller but she had an aura about her, which showed off her power. She started to say something, but stopped and looked around.

The man started talking but the woman held up her hand and he stopped. The woman concentrated and suddenly it all went dark.

………

Vincent woke up, the darkness that had ended his dream was new. It was as if the dream was blocked. But how?

He looked at the time 5am, time to get up.

He got up and dressed, stopping quickly to remember his dream. The man in the white coat… Hojo! Vincent smiled, revenge would finally be his.

………

Ultimecia walked in the lab "Not going the way you wanted, Hojo?" Hojo looked at her "What was…" She stopped and looked around.  
"What's going…" Hojo stopped when Ultimecia raised her hand.

After a moment of concentration, Ultimecia spoke again "Someone was spying on us." Hojo was surprised "How? There's nowhere for spies to hide in here." "I'm not sure how. The mind was elusive and passive. I think it was asleep. But that makes even less sense to me." "Asleep? How can someone spy on us while… asleep… Jenova Cells!" Hojo shouted triumphant.  
"Jenova Cells? What are they?" Ultimecia was intrigued.  
"They're the cells of an alien body which fell on my world thousands of years ago. The cells give off a spirit energy which when combined with a human being or animal, can create an exceptionally strong creature." "Interesting. Is the process painful?" "Thinking of having it done to yourself?" Ultimecia just looked at him "You probably saw it. That's what Adel was put through." "What? I thought you was reactivating her sorceress powers." "How? The sorceress powers from what I've read can only be passed on from another sorceress. Trust me, she's got Jenova Cells inside her now, not the sorceress power." Ultimecia was shocked at the realisation of it "So, how did she do that?" She pointed to the wreckage of the machine.  
Hojo was as calm as possible "The abilities are different for every person. But I've found out from my experience. The longer the powers take to develop, the more powerful the person." "So, what does that make her? She accessed her powers almost immediately" "More powerful than a normal person with training. But no match for either of us."

Ultimecia had a look of thought on her face.

"Do you have any more? Jenova Cells, that is. I only need a small amount. I would like to have my people examine them." "Sure." He went over to a small cabinet and took out a small glass tube. He walked back and handed it to Ultimecia.  
"Thank you, Hojo." "You're welcome… By the way, when do you expect these SeeD people to arrive?" Ultimecia smiled evilly "Soon. My purpose for coming here, to this time, is almost complete. I will be leaving as soon as Adel is destroyed."

Ultimecia laughed and left. That left Hojo alone in the lab. He wondered what this purpose was that Ultimecia had come for. 


	10. Chapter 9

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 9

Reno walked back to Rude, he had just checked up the stairs to the next level they were on the 60th floor and had stopped to get their breath as the elevators were useless without power they had had to run up the emergency stairs and fight their way up. The monsters that they had come up against were also getting stronger as they went up through each level.

"Bad?" Rude asked bluntly "Probably worse. It seems that they are, as well as stronger, getting more intelligent, they're concentrated around the stairs, this time." Rude grunted "No other way around?" "Let me think for a minute." Reno sat down and thought 'Everything has a weakness, what's theirs?' Then it came to him 'The monsters I saw, they were big. Too big!' Reno smiled broadly.  
Rude noticed "Got something?" "Nope! Don't need it." Rude frowned and Reno explained "The monsters I saw were too big to move properly in the stairwell. All we have to do is run past and they won't be able to give chase." "But what about the next floor? Won't there be more monsters there to slow us down?" "One problem at a time, Rude."

In fact, it wasn't a problem at all. As the next floor was completely clear. They continued on, expecting an ambush, up the stairs. But none came.

………

The doctor of Mideel was dealing with a minor injury, someone had fell from a tree while gathering fruit for his family. It was a quiet time for him 'But, of course,' He thought 'When I have no work, it is a good thing.'

Out the corner of his eye, he saw a small shimmer. He turned to see it better, but what he saw instead was actually a young woman.

"Where is he!" She said "He moves quicker than the wind sometimes."

Overcoming his surprise, he asked "May I help you?"

The girl turned and as she did there was a little shimmer in her form, as if she was only a reflection on the water.

"Maybe, has a man called Cloud Strife been here recently?" "Don't recognise the name; but then, I've never been good with them. What does he look like?" "Well, I guess his most obvious feature is his spiky yellow hair." "Ahh, him; the guy with the big sword." "Yeah, that's him." She said enthusiastically.  
"Not recently." The doctor said, seeing the girls face drop, he added "I remember him saying something about going to Nibelheim about 2 weeks back. He may be there." "Thank you, sir." She said. She then shimmered more and disappeared.  
"Interesting." The doctor said simply and turned to find the medicine he was looking for.

………

They got to the Office with no additional trouble. As they made their way up the steps to the top office, they heard the sound of voices and quietly stopped and looked over the remaining steps.

Behind the desk with their backs to them were two people. One was a strange man, with a kind of metallic skin, it shone with the setting sun that blared through the windows into the room. The other had a sort of familiar figure, his hair was spike and jet black. In his hand was an even more familiar sword. It was huge, sharp and looked as mean as it had when Reno had first saw one.

A computer bleeped in front of them, which was strange as the power was down.

The man with black hair spoke "'bout time. What took it so long? We're only looking for one piece of materia!" The other man answered calmly "Too much information to search, we were only looking for a single thing with limited information about it in the largest database on this world." He spoke with a monotone voice which chilled Reno to the spine.  
"Well, what does it say?" "Only an old riddle that nobody has bothered to follow up on." "A riddle? What good is that? Blasted thing!" He raised the overly-large sword to strike the computer. He brought the sword down but the other man's arm flashed out and the sword simply bounced off the metallic-looking skin. Off-balance the black-haired man fell back.  
"Calm down, Zack." The monotone voice grated "Riddles are usually written by the ancients and are excellent clues to hidden treasures.  
"Sheesh! Okay." Zack said staying on the floor "What does it say then, Omega." "Surprisingly, this was one of the easier riddles to translate. A lot of it has been done. It reads 'The clearest of all spirit energy rests within the crater guarded by the ancient knights of yore. This clear sphere has the power to either save or destroy, but heed this warning, its will can only be called once before it's colour will change forever and it can only be used by someone with a true cause'"

There was a silence.

"Arghh! What the hell does that mean? I didn't understand a word!" Zack got up and looked directly at Omega.  
"It means we need to go find the crater in the riddle." "Damn it, Omega! Do you know how many craters there are on this world!" "Only one that is useful to us, and matches this riddle." Zack scratched his head "You lost me."

Omega stood up but did not turn. Zack looked at him "What's wrong Omega? You're not worried about them two intruders are you?" It seemed like Zack was taunting Omega.

Omega turned to Zack and smiled with a strange intent. He then said something but Reno was not listening "Damn!" He muttered under his breath "They know we're here."

Suddenly behind him a monster appeared out of nowhere. Before Reno was able to defend himself, the monster attacked. Then, Rude was there and with an amazing punch, sent the monster flying.

"Thanks, Rude." Reno said gratefully Rude nodded "Why don't we finish off then." Reno said tilting his head toward the two people.  
Again Rude nodded and the two walked at a deliberate pace to Zack and Omega.

………

The old reactor in the Nibelheim mountains was in the process of being dismantled. It was last of the reactors to be removed. Soon the workers would begin to turn their attentions to the work of completing the building of a number of new towns around the world so that people could leave the barren land around Midgar and start their lives in lush, green fields and new houses.

The construction workers were all having a break, except one. He was still working on the bridge to the main control room of the reactor, he never took breaks as he believed that breaks only make the work take longer.

He was working on the main valve to make sure that the reactor remained off during the work. Otherwise the whole thing could blow up.

He turned to start on another valve, but stopped suddenly. A young woman appeared from nowhere. The worker was too shocked to speak.

The woman looked around, but didn't say anything. She then shimmered and vanished.

The worker finally found his voice and ran screaming from the reactor. Outside he was stopped by his fellow workers. As of that day. The worker took regular breaks and didn't even attempt to explain what he saw, as no-one would ever believe him.

………

Reno and Rude were in trouble, nothing they tried against the being called Omega had any effect. Physical attacks bounced off its metallic skin and magic attacks were absorbed.

Omega had told Zack to stay out of this fight, so he had taken a seat and watched the fight with a keen interest.

Reno was worried, if the two of them couldn't damage Omega, how would they win. Better yet, how would they survive. Reno decided that they had to do a make or break manoeuvre. He signalled to Rude and he nodded. They came together and faced Omega.

Reno and Rude unleashed a new combination move they had been working on. Taking his fighting rod in both hands Reno created a large ball of energy. He fired it straight at Omega. It was slow moving but that was part of the attack. Rude, then jumped into the air as Reno fired the energy ball, he came down harder than he ever had to generate a mega grand spark attack. His attack hit the back of the energy ball, making it faster. The combined attack took Omega by surprise but he still did not move. The energy hit true and exploded on impact with the opponent. Exhausted after the untested move, they went down to their knees. As the smoke from the attack cleared, Omega emerged unharmed.

Rude grunted "Damn…" Reno sighed "Oh well, Rude. It was fun."

Omega created a small energy ball in both hands and threw them at the Turks. As the balls approached them, they felt strange. The balls exploded, but did not hurt them. The two friends looked at each other and saw a weird glow about their bodies. The exhaustion left them and they rose to their feet.

Zack had jumped up off his seat and raised his sword "What's going on here!" He demanded Behind Reno, he heard a familiar voice "You boys okay?" "What?" Reno and Rude both looked behind them, there stood a figure in a pink dress.  
"Aeris?…" Rude asked "Yeah, it's me. Why don't you move it and get out of here. My Great Gospel move won't protect you forever." "Great…" Reno started but Rude shook his head and pulled Reno to the stairs "Let's go. Aeris can handle this." "What!" Reno said, but Rude just picked him up and carried him down the stairs.

………

Aeris looked back as Rude carried Reno down the stairs. She smiled but it quickly vanished when she turned back to the strange creature and… Zack?

"Zack? Is that you?" Zack took a step back "You know me? How? I don't know you." Aeris was shocked "It's me, Aeris. Don't you remember me. We used to be friends." Zack shook his head "Sorry, girl. I've never met you before." Aeris was crushed and her face showed it.  
The creature spoke up "I think I can explain this for you, young lady. You see. This Zack is not the Zack that you know. He is the from another world, as am I. In our world, you did not exist." "Did not exist…?" So there was no way this Zack could know me.  
"My name is Omega. I am a weapon, created by a scientist from another world, to destroy Jenova. But the influence of this entity is so widespread. That the only way to stop it is to destroy… everything!" "WHAT!" Aeris shouted.  
Zack just stood there, his eyes wide. But he didn't move.  
"Jenova is already gone from here." Aeris said, trying to sound confident and convincing.  
"You are wrong. And not understanding. Jenova still resides in this world, I can sense it. But it is not only this world on which it resides, it's influence inhabits many worlds and many dimensions. I have my order and I will carry it out." Aeris could only remain silent "Even with my power though, it will not be enough to do the task. That is why I need help. And this world has provided the means for me to destroy all the influence." "I won't let you, you won't destroy everything." "Ah, catching on, I see. Let us leave. I now make my way to Round Island." Omega blasted a window with a magical attack "Come and follow me, if you want. But if you do, I will strip you of the thing that makes you impervious to my attacks at this moment. The Lifestream." Aeris stood there for a second as Omega and Zack jumped out the window and fell to the ground below. They landed softly and walked away from the building.

Aeris reflected on what was said, but then concentrated on the airfield behind the Shinra tower, shimmered and disappeared from the room. 


	11. Chapter 10

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 10

Cloud had just finished his meal, bathed in the flickering light of the Cosmo Candle, He turned to look at the warrior that appeared at Nibelheim. Throughout the day, he had seen that this person was no pushover when it came to fighting, he carried himself with an uncanny confidence, facing whatever danger was presented them. Despite the fact that the two had been getting in each others way, during their battles, he didn't make an issue of it because of a feeling that he had. He felt that this warrior could be of some help in the coming days.

Squall had also finished his meal and despite his earlier caution, seemed to enjoy the food.

Behind them came a sound. The two fighters quickly reached for their swords and turned, but just as quickly relaxed when they saw Seto.

"Damn," Seto cursed "Must still be a little stiff. Wouldn't have happened if… oh, well, can't change the past." He stopped and dropped to his hunches and smiled in a wolfish grin. "I've brought a friend to see you."

Behind him a figure came into the light. It was very familiar

"Red!" Cloud greeted loudly and with genuine pleasure "What's up?" "It's Nanaki now, Cloud. Red XIII was the planets protector, Nanaki's the guardian of Cosmo Canyon." He too smiled wolfishly, waving his head slightly. Behind him a new figure showed itself. it was slightly smaller than Red, but it had the same fire coloured fur, but it also seemed to be a bit waned "But anyway, this is Sanai, my lifemate. We found her injured while hunting one day and I've been nursing her back to health.

Cloud laughed and was about to say something when Squall interrupted

"Excuse me, can we skip the pleasantries, we need to check this machine of yours, I do want to go home sometime this lifetime." Nanaki looked at him and growled audibly "Hey, Cloud, who's your impatient friend?" "His name's Sq…" Cloud started but quickly got interrupted again.  
"My name's Squall Leonhart, are we going to this machine or not!" Nanaki was now bearing his teeth in full rage "Now look here you, I'm not sure if I should let you see my grandfathers machine." "Listen, dog…"

That was it. Nanaki went berserk and jumped at Squall. Cloud had seen this coming and quickly stepped in the way of the two and pushed Nanaki to one side. Nanaki landed on his feet and backed off slightly but only to leap again trying to get over Cloud. This time, though, Seto jumped and pushed Nanaki away.

"What are you doing!" Nanaki roared "That kind of insult must not go unpunished." "Nanaki, calm down!" Seto roared back "This is no place to fight." Cloud stepped over to Nanaki and looked at him in the eyes "Ignore it, he is deliberately doing it. Squall is from another world, from what I can gather. Anyways, he was ready for you." Cloud pointed to Squall's hand which was firmly gripped to his gunblade "His hand hasn't left the hilt since he got here. This guy is a professional killer and is almost a match for my power." He heard Squall growl, but ignored him.  
Seto continued "Plus, if he is from another world, he is probably assuming everyone he doesn't recognise as an enemy. To be honest, I don't blame him." Nanaki had been listening carefully and calmed down "Okay, but I don't trust him, I would be careful if I were you. I'll see you by my grandfathers machine."

Cloud and Seto nodded while Nanaki ran up the stairs with Sanai close behind. Squall had got up and came over to Cloud. He was also angry.

"What was that about me being almost a match for you. Care to find out who is better." Squall drew his gunblade and levelled it at Cloud's chest.  
"Calm down, Squall. I said that to stop Red from doing anything rash. I didn't mean anything by it." Cloud was hoping that Squall would buy that statement.  
"Okay then, so what now?" Squall asked, he put away the gunblade but Cloud could tell that Squall was not convinced.  
"Now?" Cloud answered "Now, we try to get some answers. Follow me and we'll see this machine." Cloud turned to Seto "You coming?" Seto shook his head "No, I've got a few things to do. I'll see you later."

Cloud and Squall walked up the stairs that Nanaki had taken and Cloud led Squall to the highest point in the canyon. As they entered the room, Cloud noticed a lot of changes, the room seems to have been moved around, it seemed like it was more spacious. 'Well, I guess that Red has moved in here with his lifemate.' Cloud thought as he went though the door to Bugenhagen's machine. As they entered Cloud caught a familiar smell. Oil. Even though the room outside had changed, Nanaki had tried to keep this place the same to remember his old grandfather.

"What took ya, Cloud?" Nanaki grinned Cloud smiled and returned the old joke "Well, you know, another crisis for the planet." Nanaki laughed and motioned the two warriors to get in position. He then turned the machine on and lifted the platform.  
Cloud was looking directly at Squall at the time and saw a strange expression come on his face. Shock. The transition from a real environment to virtual surroundings took him by surprise.

After this was done and Squall calmed down, Cloud looked around and saw the huge materia that were placed here over a year ago. They glowed with their separate colours and pulsed with the very breath of the planet.

Nanaki called Cloud over to the replica of the planet. "I've made a few discovery's recently. I'll show them to you. This is how our planet looked a year ago. But now…"

The image changed to a blur and then back but this time revealed what seemed to be a number of planet's laid on top of each other, each slightly offset by a couple of centimetres which was enough to be visible.

Nanaki spoke again "Because of the Huge Materia inside the machine, it has been able to record this. I think it has something to do with the natural knowledge recording of the materia."

Cloud troubled by the overlapping planets, turned to call Squall, he suddenly stopped. Squall was reaching out to touch one of the materia. As his hand touched it, a strange force pushed him back and into Cloud. Squall was dazed but quickly got up and took a breath.

Cloud asked him to look at the image. Squall turned and looked straight at the image of the planets, he gasped "How many are there?" Nanaki shook his head "Don't know, but they are slowly moving apart." "Apart!" Squall shouted alarmed and angry "Do you mean that I'm stuck here!" Nanaki again shook his head "This machine only displays what has and is happening, not what could happen." Cloud pressed in "Any ideas how it happened in the first place?" Nanaki looked at him "No, but I can tell you that there is an problem with the balance of life energy. There seems to be a concentration of it around something." "Concentration? Around what?" "How am I meant to know! Look, I'll show you what the machine showed me." The image of the planet changed again and this time there seemed to be a glow to it. Nanaki turned to it "Normally; the energy, which is shown by the glow is constant, with it being distributed fairly across the world. But if you notice to the top, there is a brighter section." Brighter wasn't the word, it stood out like a light in a dark room. Cloud looked at it until he understood. "So that bright light is a concentration of life energy." "Exactly!" Nanaki cheered Squall, now completely confused, had to ask "What does that mean then? All this talk about energy is giving me a headache."

Nanaki shook his head. Cloud just stood there.

"Lifeforce, in this world, is essential." Nanaki explained patiently "It's what gives us our lives. We've also found, though, it is also directly proportional to battle power. What this shows is a concentration of life energy, so whatever or whoever is generating that energy is going to be very powerful." Cloud just stood there and thought. 'How powerful though? Nothing could be strong enough to create that glow, maybe Sephiroth or the Weapons but…' Cloud smiled and talked to Nanaki "What about the Weapons, their strength and power was exceptional. Could this be one we missed?" Squall turned to Cloud, with a strange look on his face "Weapons? I think I know what you're talking about. I've faced a few of them in the past myself. They were strong, but nothing that me and my friends couldn't handle." Cloud nodded "Exactly my point, if this is anything like them, we should be able to beat it." "Not this one!" Nanaki interrupted "I thought that as well, but after checking it in the machine, this is the result." The image changed again. This time showing a long line. "This is the strength of the unknown thing, if it is a living person." Another line appeared below the line. Only much, much shorter "This is the strength of the Weapons we faced." He paused and added "Put together."

Cloud stared at the lines and could feel that his jaw had dropped a bit.

Squall wasn't as disturbed "So your Weapons were weaklings, right" He looked from Cloud to Nanaki and back again, when a nasty look came back at him from both of them, he swallowed "Right?"

Cloud shook his head and told Nanaki to turn off the machine. Nanaki did so and the three of them left the room.

Cloud was the first to speak "We better get to sleep, I think that the best thing to do is get to Corel as soon as possible." Squall was taken aback by that statement "What about that strong, erm… whatever it is?" Cloud was calm "One thing at a time. I plan on using Corel as a staging ground, a place to gather my friends so we can go after that thing." "What about me and my friends?" Nanaki spoke up "Well, if any of them came to this world, they would have appeared near to a person that is the closest match for them." "How do you know that?" Cloud and Squall said together "We have a few people here, that appeared after the light, and each of them were matched in one way or another. Some, a physical defect, broken arm or leg. A few had the same personalities. Also some had a similar experience in their life." Cloud thought about it for a second "That doesn't explain the cure that you got for Seto." "Huh," Nanaki blinked "Your right. Well, maybe it was passed over because it was used before to cure that type of petrification." "Maybe." Cloud said doubtfully.  
Squall yawned audibly to get their attention "I need to sleep, if we are going to get to this Corel quickly, a good nights sleep would be in order." Cloud nodded "You're right, see you in the morning, Red." Nanaki quickly pointed out that his name was not Red, but Cloud laughed and led Squall to the inn. 


	12. Chapter 11

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 11

Yuffie got up slowly. She had only slept for a few hours before waking. She had just laid there thinking, each thought bringing her back to one thing. The girl in the tower.

A shout came from outside. It was her father calling her. His voice sounding desperate. She went outside to see what he wanted but stopped when she saw him. His expression was unnatural on him. One of fear.

"What's up, Pops? What's with the frightened act?"

Godo did nothing but point to the Pagoda tower. Yuffie turned and felt her jaw drop. Above the tower was a large water snake. It was familiar, so familiar in fact, that it couldn't be anything else.

"Leviathan?" Yuffie reaching into her pocket and raised a red object "But how? The materia is still here." Godo looked at his daughter "You mean, that's not our Leviathan?" "You should know, dad! Is this the materia that you gave me, when I defeated you?" Godo took the materia and examined it carefully "Yes… It is the materia I gave you." "Hmm, then lets test something."

Godo handed the materia back to Yuffie, who then attached it to her weapon. She concentrated, went though the motions and a great flash appeared above.

………

"Hey, wake up Squall." Squall didn't open his eyes "Okay, Rinoa, just a second." "Rinoa? Who's that?" Squall suddenly realized that it wasn't Rinoa's voice calling him and opened his eyes sharply. Looking down at him was the blond spiky-haired person from yesterday.  
"Damn! I thought it was a dream." "A dream?" Squall got up and dressed "Yes, a dream. I was hoping to wake up in my bed in my world." "With Rinoa?"

Squall gave Cloud a look that could have scared a Ruby Dragon, but Cloud remained calm and held his gaze. Squall finally backed down "Especially with Rinoa. She's my wife." "Your Wife…? Never mind." Cloud seemed to remember something "Hey, remember last night, Red told us that everyone was being drawn to similar people. If she did come here, I may know where she is?" "But if she didn't!" "Don't think like that, now I just need to ask you a few questions just to make sure. Can she fight?" Squall was confused with what Cloud was going on about but did answer after some hesitation "…Yes." Cloud was looking straight into the eyes of Squall, Squall stared back, he suddenly noticed that Cloud's eyes glowed, they seemed to shine like the large crystals that he had seen yesterday in the machine.  
Cloud continued with his questions "Does she hold a position of importance?" "Where are you going with this?" Squall demanded, not taking his eyes off Cloud.  
Cloud waited patiently. Squall growled "She is an ambassador to Deling City. So yes, you could say she holds a position of importance." Squall decided that Cloud didn't need to know about Rinoa's Sorceress powers.  
"Okay then, another question." Cloud paused "Has she ever saved you life?" "What kind of question is that!" Squall shouted.  
Cloud again waited, until Squall threw up his hands and answered "YES! You happy now. She has saved my life!" "How?" "What!" Squall almost screamed "How?" Cloud asked again "Arghh! After we destroyed an evil sorceress, I was trapped in a dissolute place made by my own mind. Rinoa saved me by reminding me that I had friends and more importantly, I had her." "Thank you." Cloud paused "I know where she is. If she came here of course." Squall looked in the glowing eyes of Cloud and saw that he was telling the truth "You do?" "Probably, but only if she came here and Tifa didn't go to your world." "Tifa? Who's that?"

Before Cloud could answer, Nanaki came through the door.  
"You wanted to see me?" Cloud looked grateful and turned to Nanaki "Yeah, I was wondering if you had a couple of Chocobo's around that we could use." "Um, Yeah, I guess. May I ask why?" "If we're to get to Corel quickly, Chocobo's are the fastest way to do it." Nanaki nodded "You're probably right. Okay, anything else?" "Actually, yes, two things. First." Cloud smiled "Care to join us? We could use your skills in the next day or two." Nanaki smiled and thought hard "I'm tempted… but no. My place is in the canyon. I an't leave my lifemate yet, she is needing me almost every moment that she is awake…" "I think I will join you though!" The gruff voice of Seto interrupted from the door "I still need to stretch out a few of the knots in my body from the petrification, this will give me an excellent opportunity." Cloud looked at Squall who had a puzzled look on his face "What's wrong?" "You said there were two things!" "Oh, yeah. Red. I was going to ask Seto to do this, but I guess I should ask you now. Can you contact Tifa and get her, and any 'guests' she may have, to go to Corel, as soon as possible." Squall, listening carefully, spoke up "Also, tell them my name but not to give it unless they know what SeeD is. Anyone I know will know what it means." "Okaay, but is this really that bad a crisis that you need to gather Avalanche back together?" Cloud looked at Nanaki "I was talking to Vincent before he disappeared, he had a dream about a man who looked like me but with black hair and an unknown person. I believe that the unknown person my be the concentration of lifeforce energy we were talking about yesterday. I also believe that this person could be ten times more dangerous than Sephiroth was!" "Whoa. I guess I better get them Chocobo's prepared!"

As Nanaki left the room, Squall turned to Cloud "Now, you can tell me who this Tifa is and how she saved your life in a similar manner to Rinoa." Cloud sighed and nodded "I'll tell you on the way to Corel."

Within a half hour, the three of them; Squall, Cloud and Seto, set out to Corel, after a couple of minutes, Cloud told Squall the story of who Tifa was and how she saved Cloud from the Lifestream.

……..

Rinoa sat up suddenly in her bed. It was starting to get lighter outside and the bright light of the sun was shining through the window. But that was not what had awoken her.

Down the hall, in the room next door, a large crash was heard. Rinoa got out of bed and quietly left the room and listened at the door where the noise was coming from.

"What do you mean 'you had to bring him here!'" She heard Tifa shout.  
"Reno ordered me to, Tifa." A mystery voice answered calmly "He knew you wouldn't be happy, but…" "Damn it, Elena." Tifa interrupted, not listening to what the other person said "You know what he put me…" She paused "Us through, we barely got through it last time." "Calm down, Tifa." Elena tried to say but Tifa was not listening still.  
Rinoa opened the door slightly and saw them, Tifa had her back to the door and in front of her was a blond lady, about the sane age as Tifa, who Rinoa assumed was Elena.  
Tifa was still shouting "Because of him, we almost all died; because of him, Aeris was killed; …because of him I almost lost… Cloud." A small sob came from her.

Rinoa had sneaked up on Tifa from behind and with a single strike to the back of Tifa's head, knocked her out.  
Elena stepped forward quickly to check on Tifa, never taking her eyes off Rinoa.

"Who are you! Why did you do that!" She demanded Rinoa was rubbing the part of her hand that hit Tifa "It was the only way to calm her down; don't worry about her, she's only unconscious." She looked at her hand "Never thought that move would work, I'll have to thank Zell, if I see him again, for teaching me it." Elena was about to say something else when Tifa stirred, waking up.  
She looked up at Elena "How did you do that?" "I didn't!" Elena replied and pointed at Rinoa "She did!" Tifa looked back "Huh, Rinoa?" She got up "Why?" "To stop that self-pity of yours." Rinoa was a bit startled at the volume of her own voice "Just because Elena brought someone you don't like here." Elena brought her hand to her mouth "You heard?" At the same time Tifa spoke "You don't understand…" Tifa said weakly "You're right." Rinoa quickly countered "I don't understand, I haven't understood a single thing since I arrived in your world." Elena gasped "I only know that everything is different and I need to find my friends and go home." Elena broke in "Our world? Are you from another then?" Rinoa nodded to her, so Elena continued "Sephiroth said that as well!" "The person you brought here?" Rinoa inquired Elena nodded and continued "He also said that the culprit to the changes in this world, were originally from his world. I'd guess that the reason for you coming here is one of the side-effects of their arrival." "Knowing Sephiroth. It's probably him that caused it and he's up to his old tricks." Tifa accused "WILL YOU GIVE IT A REST!" Rinoa and Elena said together. It caused Tifa to take a step back.  
Elena regained her composure "He actually said the people who caused this were named Omega and someone called Zack." "Zack?" Tifa gasped, almost at the same time as Rinoa said "Omega?" Elena looked between them "You know who they are?" Rinoa shook her head "Maybe. I've heard that name somewhere before, I can't place it though."

Rinoa looked to Tifa, who was holding her head "Zack, Zack! Why? How?" "Tifa?" Rinoa said concerned "Zack is Cloud's best friend… Well, at least he was. He died years ago."

Tifa was about to continue when a ringing sound started.

………

Elena took something out of her pocket, it looked like a small radio. She placed it to her ear.

"Yes, Elena here." She listened intently for a moment "Yes, she is here." She handed the object to Tifa "It's for you. It's Nanaki." Tifa accepted it and spoke to the box "Tifa here, Red. What's up?"

As Tifa listened, her face slowly brightened after a while she said "You sure? He's going to Corel. Okay, I'll head out in a while… Huh, something else…? Okay, I'll sort it out. Thanks, I'll see ya sometime."

Tifa passed the object back to Elena, who put it back in her pocket. Rinoa was about to ask what was happening when she saw Tifa's face looking intently at her. Rinoa suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Tifa ignored her and asked a question of her own "Do you know what SeeD is?" "Rinoa blinked "Huh?" "I need to know. Do you know what SeeD is?" Rinoa nodded, even more confused now.  
"Well?" Tifa pressed Rinoa answered "SeeD is the codename of the mercenaries from Garden. I'm a member of that group." "Thank you, that's fine." She stepped over to a communication panel and activated it "Reeve." "Yes, Tifa." The reply came "I need the Highwind now. Rinoa and myself are to leave for Corel." "I'll try, madam president, but the Highwind's not good at the moment, the engine is having some problems." "Then fix it!" "We're trying, but without Cid, it may take a while." "We need to leave now, Reeve! Can it still fly?" Tifa said urgently Reeve delayed his reply, either in shock or requesting an answer from someone "Yes, but it will be slow and a bumpy ride." "Then, get it ready, we leave as soon as we're aboard." "Okay, Tifa."

Tifa turned the Comm. Unit off and turned around. Rinoa looked at her.

"May I ask why you're taking me?" She asked "Because I promised to help you find your friends. So I thought I'd take you to them." Tifa answered calmly "WHAT?" Rinoa shouted in surprise "That was what the call was about… well half of it. As you knew what SeeD was, I have to take you to Corel with me. Also, I can tell you the person who made that question." Rinoa stood there waiting, when nothing came, she spoke "Well? Who was it?" "Squall" Rinoa gasped, half in surprise, half in relief "Squall?" She said softly "Yes." Rinoa swallowed and thought of something "But why the urgency? I don't think you should risk our life's on the ship, just to get me and my husband…" It was out now "Husband?" Tifa and Elena were shocked "Yes, I'm married. Anyway, getting me and Squall together can't be the reason for this urgency of yours. Why the rush?"

Tifa was silent, but Elena spoke up "She's got someone on the way there as well; haven't you, Tifa." Tifa nodded reluctantly "Aha," Elena cheered "It's Cloud, isn't it." Again, Tifa nodded "It seems like Squall arrived where Cloud was and they've been travelling together." Rinoa wiped away a tear that had come to her eye when she heard that Squall was on this world "What's your relationship with Cloud?" She inquired Elena replied before Tifa could "There isn't one, unfortunately. Anyway, do you mind if I join you? Corel is where I need to go next anyway. I need to meet with one of the new members of the Turks and give him some training." Tifa looked at Elena "He wasn't with us?" Elena shook her head "He was on a training assignment to Gongaga village, and then had to got to Corel to report to me." "Okay then. Rinoa! Stop daydreaming" Tifa said, snapping Rinoa out a trance she didn't know she was in "Lets get to the Highwind." Elena gasped "Wait! What about Sephiroth?" Tifa looked at her "What about him? We take him with us. I'm going to let Cloud sort out that problem." "Why?" Rinoa asked "Cloud knew Sephiroth personally, he'll be able to tell if this is the same one." "Ok, then." Elena said "I'll go and get him, and take him to the Highwind."

Elena ran out the room, to do her duty, Tifa looked at Rinoa and motioned for them to be moving as well. Rinoa nodded and they left together.

Rinoa did believe, though, that Elena had more reason for going there than she had stated.

………

Barret was getting annoyed. It was last night that the mercenary and himself had fought and defeated the monster. But despite asking numerous times, the mercenary still would not give his name.

Over the last year, Barret had changed, he still got angry often, but his outbursts were mainly directed at the workers now.

He looked outside his house, he saw the mercenary. He was walking through the town again, it looked as though he had just returned from Gold Saucer. The mercenary had gone up almost immediately after finding out about the Battle Square. And according to the word that was coming down, he was totally decimating the opposition.

Barret saw this as his chance, he called the mercenary over to his house. The mercenary looked over at Barret, thought about it for a second, then turned and entered the house. Barret was waiting, with one swift movement he grabbed the mercenary and with the gun arm shut the door. The mercenary shouted at him but Barret just lifted him by the collar of the long coat he wore.

"Now! I've tried to be civil, let you stay in the town. Even let you help me with the monster, all that is fine, but there is one thing I can't stand. You know what that is? An unknown mercenary, a no-name. I asked you before, now I'm demanding. WHAT'S YOUR NAME!"

Barret pushed his fist up into the neck of the mercenary, essentially pinning him in place against the wall.

The mercenary laughed, but it came out as a forced cough. The air was having a hard time getting to his lungs.

Finally, the mercenary answered "Seifer." It came out as a wheeze but Barret heard it. He let go and stepped back to allow the mercenary some space.

"Thank you." Barret said "That was all I wanted." After the mercenary had breathed for a bit, he laughed "So you've finally showed me that you can live up to your reputation." "What's that supposed to mean?" Barret said confused "I know what you did in the past. It's a common story around here. They all hold you in the highest esteem" Seifer explained "They also told me about your temper. I was pushing it, to see how long I could last, without giving my name." "So, what now?" "Now, I've going to my room to rest. After that, I don't know."

The mercenary opened the door and left, leaving a bewildered Barret behind.

………

Selphie was worried, she had easily defeated the old man at the entrance to the building, but outside was even less familiar to her than the inside had been.

Her GF could take care of the outside people who were waiting. She had summoned Leviathan earlier which meant, to her relief, that her functioning abilities still worked.

A light appeared in the crowd of people. A young girl around her age was casting a spell, nothing happened at first, which made Selphie breath easier. But suddenly there was a flash.

The crowd gasped in one voice as it subsided. Each face was looking up at Leviathan. Selphie smiled and looked around, but something was wrong. The shadows, there were two! The smile from her face faded, she looked up. Above the building, there were TWO Leviathan's!

"But how?" Selphie said in a whisper. Suddenly a disturbing thought hit her. If this new Leviathan's attack was the same, this town would be destroyed by the force of the two floods, if they crashed against each other.

"STOP THE ATTACK!" Selphie shouted "Call back your Leviathan and I'll call mine off as well." Selphie didn't want to destroy the town, only escape.

The girl, who wore strange clothing, stepped forward, behind her an old man also stepped forward. The girl stopped and raised her weapon (it looked like an overly-large shuriken), the new Leviathan disappeared.  
Selphie dismissed her GF and stepped outside. She held her shinobo tight in case it was necessary to use force.

As she approached the two people, the man turned and shouted to everyone to go home. Before Selphie could speak, the girl spoke to the man.  
"So, it was her. What'd I tell ya, old man." "Okay, okay." The man replied "So you were right, Yuffie. I'm just glad that little drama is over."

Selphie couldn't stand being ignored and was getting angry "Right, who are you. Where am I and how did you summon Leviathan!"

The man's eyes flashed dangerously, he had obviously never been spoken to like that before. The was the same, but seemed to control her emotions better.

"I'm Yuffie," The girl said "and this is my father, Godo. The town leader." She paused "Your turn." "Selphie." Selphie said simply "I still don't know where I am, or how I got her though." "Well, you are in a town called Wutai, but as to how you got here. We were hoping you could tell us."

Selphie listened intently to Godo as to how she appeared at the top of the Da-chao; which she found out, when she asked, was the large statue carved into the mountain.  
She stared in disbelief when she heard she had fell and been unconscious for the better half of a day.

Yuffie started talking now "We got your name from your unconscious ramblings, but we wanted to confirm it from you. You also said something about… Umm, what was it? Oh, yeah. Irvine and someplace about flower fields of Winhill." Selphie blushed "But, I've never heard of such a place." "Huh!" Selphie exclaimed "You're kidding me." "No." Godo confirmed "I have lived a long time, but there has never been a place called Winhill." "Umm, lets see. Galbadia?" Yuffie shook her head "Balamb?" Again a shake of the head "Trabia?" Selphie was getting desperate "Timber? Esthar? SeeD?" All were met with a negative.

Selphie fell on her knees, where was she? It's like this wasn't her world, but how did she get here? How did she get back? Why was she here? All questions, no answers.

"You alright?" She heard Yuffie ask "You want anything?" "Yes! To go home!" Selphie shouted "I don't even know where to go, I'm lost, I might as well die!" "STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" Selphie raised her head in surprise. Godo was red in the face "So you don't know where to go. So what, nobody knows where the future leads. So you want to go home. That's obvious. But, you want to die. Give me a break! If you die, you won't go home, so you've got to live."

Selphie blinked, she hadn't meant what she said. But Godo hadn't known that. There was a long silence.

"As for where to go." Yuffie's voice sounded loud, in the silence that preceded it "Why don't you come with me." "Huh? Where are you going?" "I'm off on a journey. I'm a materia hunter. It's my hobby. I like to track down the rarest and most powerful materia." "How will this help me?" Selphie asked "I found out about a materia capable of granting one wish. It grants the wish then loses it's power. According to my resources, the materia only comes into existence once every 10,000 years. Which means that it should have took form about a year ago." "But if it's only capable of granting one wish, why don't you use it?" "Because I can't think of a reason for me to use it. I have everything I want, if I used this wish, I would lose the happiness that I have in my life." Yuffie looked like she was telling the truth "But to get you home, that's a different matter. That is a good enough reason to make this a bit more than a hobby." "What's the catch?" Selphie was still suspicious, but to a less degree "What's the condition of it." "I need to pass a number of fighting challenges to get the materia. I'm the best ninja in the world, but I'll still need help. If you can use that Shinobo of yours even half as well as you should, you'll be the help I need." "Shin… You know my weapon?" Yuffie nodded "I haven't used one in battle since my ninja training. I was always better with this giant shuriken." Selphie looked at the weapon she held "Nice. Well, I'm a pro with this weapon. So, yes, I'll join with you. I've got nothing better to do and I want to get home. When do we leave?" "As soon as we've eaten something. I will not go into battle on an empty stomach."

Selphie laughed and that eased her tension. Maybe this would be alright after all. 


	13. Chapter 12

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 12

Irvine was shocked. Yesterday, the Ragnorok had taken a lot of damage from the dragon that attacked them. But now, there wasn't any sign that it had even been flown. It sparkled.

Cid came down the ramp "Morning Irvine."

Irvine acknowledged with a hand to his hat. He was still speechless at the Ragnorok's shine.

"What happened? What did you do?" Irvine finally asked "Not much." Cid shrugged "Just repaired the armour. Gathered a few people, gave it a clean. Upgraded the laser cannons, boosted the speed, directed extra power from the gravity generator to the shields. Stuff like that." "In one night!" Irvine was shocked "Yeah. Oh, I did the same upgrades to the other one." Cid pointed to the Dragon "How! You only had one night."

To answer that question, a group of students came down the ramp. They were all leaning on each others shoulders, and they all wore tired smiles on their faces.

"Good work, lads and lasses." Cid turned and called to them. Their faces brightened "Go and get some sleep. You've definitely deserved it."

As the students filed out the hanger. Irvine was looking back and forth between the ships and Cid.

"Okay Cid! What's going on!" Irvine demanded Cid was calm "Just helping out. I know that we're going back to that Esthar place. Hell, we might even run into that Dragon again. So I decided to make some changes to give us a better chance of surviving." "We got away though, didn't we?" "Barely!" Cid reminded him "The blast that hit us could have hit something vital and destroyed the ship! You saw the damage. Plus, if it tried to follow us, I doubt we would have got away."

Irvine had to admit that Cid was right. They had been lucky. The blast had only hit one of the storage bays.

"But, the ships." Irvine said weakly "How could you do the upgrades?" Cid laughed "Irvine. Quit while you're behind. I may be an excellent pilot. But I make my living as an engineer. Finding out how these babies worked was a piece of cake. I told the kids what to do, and they did it. Simple as that." "Will the upgrades work?" "Don't know about the flight ones. But, I got that Zell fella, to use a couple of his moves on the shields and he couldn't break through. And the weapons, well. See for yourself."

Cid handed Irvine a set of binoculars and pointed to a distant cliff. Irvine looked through them and saw two large holes in the rock. The cliff was around 2 miles away.

He was just about to congratulate Cid when the headmaster came in with the main task force. The operation was about to begin.

………

Zell was in the cafeteria, he was about to start eating when Raijin and Fujin ran up.

"EMERGENCY!" Fujin said in her usual tone "Yeah man, it's like bad, ya know." Raijin said, even more predictably "What's going on?" Zell asked "Cid wants ya, ya know. Important stuff, ya know." "Okay, okay. Where is he?" "HANGER" "Yeah, right. He's on his way to the hanger with the troops, ya know." "All right!" Zell said enthusiastically "I'm only my way." "REQUEST!" Fujin stopped him "Yeah, we have a request, ya know." "Tell me on the way." He walked to the cafeteria exit. Suddenly remembering, he hadn't eaten "What do you need?" "HELP" Fujin started "Yeah, we want to help, ya know." Raijin finished "We want to go with you to Esthar, ya know." Zell didn't understand "Why?" "SEIFER" "Seifer?" Zell didn't know what to think "Why him?" "The light, ya know. If it came from Esthar, ya know. We may find a way ta help him. Ya know." Zell caught on "Your right! The trouble started at the same time. So it's probably got a connection." Zell was excited "We'll be able to get everyone back!" "DECISION?" "What'd ya say, man? Can we join ya, ya know?" Zell thought for a second "Well, the groups have been named. But I guess, as you're not SeeD's, you can go wherever you want. So if you want to, I can't stop you." "IDIOT!" Fujin fumed "Don't try to be crafty, ya know. It's not you, ya know!" Raijin said "Either yes or no, ya know." "Okay, okay." Zell said defensively "You can come." "GOOD" "Yeah, thanks, ya know."

The three walked into the hanger. Cid turned and signalled Zell to join him. Raijin and Fujin joined the SeeD that were lined up in front of Cid.

………

Zell was on the bridge of the Ragnorok. He had talked to Irvine the night before. He had heard about Cid's flying, he expected more of the same, but Cid flew the ship with precision. It looked like he knew when it was time to play and time to be serious. And this was definitely time to be serious.

He remembered the briefing Headmaster Cid had given. He had split the SeeD into 2 groups. The first to go for the Presidential Palace, and the second after Odine's Lab. The two nerve centres of Esthar's operations.

Zell had the first group, while Vincent had the second group. Zell couldn't understand why Cid (the headmaster) had placed Vincent in charge of the second group. But he respected the headmasters intellect and didn't comment.

Cid, the one from the other world, shouted to Zell "Three minutes 'til arrival. You gonna ask him or what?"

Zell nodded, he had Bahamut junctioned in case they encountered the other dragon.

"Bahamut?" He closed his eyes and spoke silently to the Guardian Force.  
"Yes, Zell? You require my services?" Bahamut asked formally "Soon, Bahamut. I wish to ask a question?" "Proceed, then" "The pilot of this ship asks that if we should encounter this other dragon…" "It is Tiamat, my brother." Bahamut interrupted "I can sense his presence in the air around this place." "Indeed? The pilot asks if you would require his assistance in the fight?" "Nay, he should not interfere. This is a battle that must be fought between us dragons. my brother will call for this to be a battle for my title. And I will have to fight him as according to the dragon pact." "I understand, Bahamut."

Zell opened his eyes again "Cid, you'll be with the main group… Cid?" "Up ahead." Cid said simply

In the distance, a large figure was seen. It was a dragon. Zell didn't waste time.

"Bahamut, it is time." He said silently

Above the Ragnorok, the clouds parted and Bahamut dropped from them. He stretched out his wings and glided past the Ragnorok and straight at the other dragon.

Cid turned to Zell slightly "We're going down. I'll land the ship and join with you." There was a look of thought on his face "Damn. It's been a while since I've used my spear in a real battle."

………

With a shriek, Bahamut dived at Tiamat, hoping to get a quick victory. Tiamat looked and barely dodged. As Bahamut turned with a flick of his wing. He spread them and stopped.

As both dragons flapped their wings to keep them airborne, Bahamut spoke

"Why are you here, Tiamat?" Tiamat looked stunned "What! You of all dragons should know that! I am following my mistress's orders. As per the code of the Guardian Force." "Code of the Guardian Force? Since when did you follow any code!" Bahamut was furious "You've never followed the code of the Dragon, you've never followed anything!" "Hah! Code of the Dragon. That code is basically lost, it will be as soon as our father is dead. The dragons have never like him, you or that code. That is why I must beat you. To bring order back to the Dragon's, to bring peace." Bahamut knew what was coming next "So you challenge me for my title of heir?" "Yes, but according to them outdated traditions, I must formally challenge you. Here it is, I only going to say it once! 'I Tiamat, Brother of Bahamut and son of the King of Dragons." He said it was a bit of spite "hereby challenge you, Bahamut, for the right to rule the dragons upon the death of the king…' There!" Bahamut was impressed "Very good, you remembered." Bahamut finished the ritual "I, Bahamut, do hereby accept your challenge. Let the wind blow true for us both and allow us to battle with all our strength."

The two dragon's veered away a little and flew in opposite directions. Tiamat was the first to turn, he saw Bahamut in the process and fired his Dark Flare. Bahamut tucked in his wings and fell, the attack went over him. Tiamat tried again, this time, he fired in the path of the falling Bahamut. But again, he saw it coming and spread his wings to slow his descent and dodge that blast.

After a few more attempts to hit Bahamut, Tiamat realized he had been outmanoeuvred, Bahamut had steadily gained ground on him and as they crossed, Bahamut used the claw on his wing to tear at his brother. But Bahamut wasn't finished, he held on and flipped with the help of his wings onto the back of Tiamat.

With his clawed hands, Bahamut gripped the neck of his brother. He was about to use his Mega Flare when Tiamat spread his wings as best he could to change the flight direction.

Bahamut fired his attack, but because the sudden change of direction had knocked his positioning off and the attack flew harmlessly into the plains outside Esthar.

As the fight in the air continued, the fight of the ground was just beginning.

………

Irvine and Vincent walked down the ramp of the Dragon. Over by the exit, they saw the team from the Ragnorok leave the airport.

Irvine looked at Vincent "You sure this is what you want?" Vincent nodded "They'll be more useful helping the remaining people. Besides, me; you; Raijin and Fujin should be enough to storm the lab." "Okay," He turned to the ship "Get going everyone, make sure that if anyone is still around, you keep them safe."

The SeeD all saluted and ran out of the airport.  
Raijin and Fujin walked down the ramp after that.

"PLAN?" Fujin said "Yah! What's the plan, ya know?" Raijin expanded as usual Irvine grimaced and faced the two of them "Do you have to do that?" "WHAT?" Fujin started "Yeah man. What you meaning, ya know?" Raijin finished "Forget it." Irvine said. He turned back to Vincent "They bring up a good point though. What do we do?" Vincent was checking his handgun "Easy, save anyone who needs saving, kill anyone who tries to stop us." "Yah! Simple, ya know!" Raijin shouted, then Fujin kicked him in the shin "Oww!" "IDIOT!" She accused "RISKY!" Vincent nodded "But it's the only way. We can't outsmart this guy, so we beat him with force." Irvine spoke again "This guy? You know who we're up against?"

Everyone looked at Vincent. He nodded.

"Yes, it's a person from my world. A scientist called Hojo. He's probably the smartest guy from my world and completely evil. He's the reason for my transformation abilities." "Man, intense." Irvine remembered the beast with a shudder "Well, lets go then." He invited "If we move quickly, we may be able to catch him by surprise."

Vincent didn't look convinced by that but nodded and waved Irvine in front

"You lead the way, Irvine. You know this place." "Okay, follow me."

The four fighters ran out the airport, Irvine was hoping to finish this quick. The quicker they did it, the more time, they would have to work on a way to help their friends.

………

Zell's group had just met with Laguna and his group. Curiously they were running away from the Palace.

"Hey, Laguna. Wats'up?" He greeted them "Hi, Zell." Laguna returned "We need some help." "Just say it, that's what we're here for."

Laguna simply pointed behind him. A large creature was slowly walking up the road to them. It looked strangely familiar.

"Whoa!" Zell said "Only a little problem, then?" Fiona came up behind Zell "We need to get to the palace, Zell. I suggest we let our GF's handle this and proceed." "GF?" Zell snapped his fingers "Of course. Fiona, you're a genius." Fiona blushed "That's Griever! I thought it looked familiar." "Griever?" Fiona and Laguna said together confused "Ultimecia's Guardian Force!" Zell turned to the SeeD "Who here has a GF equipped?" A number of hands were raised "Summon them. We'll use them as a stall for us to get to the palace."

A few lights were seen, then suddenly, the GF's were around them.

Zell addressed them formally "We request your assistance, my friends. We need you to hold him off while we head for the palace." Zell pointed to the looming form of Griever. It was a lot closer now.  
One of the GF's roared "You ask a lot, human." It was Ifrit "That is the most powerful of us. It will not be easy." "We just need you to keep him busy. We need the time." Zell explained Shiva, who had also appeared, spoke "We will do so, my friend. It will be difficult, but we will try."

All the Guardian Force's that appeared, stood to their full heights, they looked on at the on coming Griever. Zell instructed his group that they would be going a different route. Laguna decided to follow them as they were both heading to the same destination.

After a few moments of silence, the sound of battle started behind them.

………

As the SeeD party, along with the other party that joined with them neared the Palace, Cid was apprehensive. While they had met up with a few monsters, most of them were not really that powerful and were easily countered.

Only once had they met up with a strong creature. Zell after weighing the options and asking for suggestions, left the majority of the SeeD group to fight it and continued.

Now there were only Zell, Fiona, himself and Carlo in their group.

The main entrance of the palace came into view. Outside of it was a woman, she just seemed to stand there, not doing anything except looking at them. She was also calm.

"Great!" Zell went "Now we know why it was so easy to get here." Fiona was looking at the woman "Is that her?" "Is that who?" Cid asked confused Zell just nodded "Ultimecia, this could be trouble." The man named Laguna said The thin man who Cid had found out was Kiros spoke "Definitely"

Zell looked like he was thinking "Laguna, leave this to us. You and your group get inside and gain control of the palace." Laguna was shocked "You sure? You're going to need help, it's going to be hard to defeat her." "We don't have too. Trust me, all we have to do is stall until the others catch up. Once they're here, then we can concentrate on beating her."

Laguna didn't look too convinced but nodded. Suddenly a strange look came on his face. He whispered something to Zell and his face brightened. He whispered something back and motioned them to get going.

………

As Laguna stepped past Ultimecia, he braced himself for an attack, but none came. Ultimecia just stood there looking at the SeeD.

Laguna motioned for the others to join him and together they went into the palace.

As soon as they were in, Ward looked back at the entrance.

Laguna stopped, turned and called out "Come on, Ward." Ward looked at Laguna, his eyes asking the question "Don't worry, they'll be fine." Kiros came up behind him "You sure?" Laguna scratched his head "Yeah, of course." "You usually don't when you scratch your head, you know that?" "Arghh! Anyways, we need to get to the main office. Once there we can use the sorceress negation device." "Sorceress…" Kiros started "Negation Device?" Biggs finished "There's one here?" "Yes," Laguna nodded "the machine's in the main office." Kiros was confused "That's very interesting, but umm, what is it?" Laguna explained "Odine told me about it, it's a machine that will create a, umm, oh yeah, a kind of bubble, it stops anything magical. Adel had it created for protection from other sorceress's should they appear, because of her size, she would have a distinct advantage over another sorceress, with their powers removed." "Is it permanent?" "Unfortunately no, but if we activate it, Ultimecia will not be able to use her sorceress powers and it'll give Zell and the others a chance of winning. Also, it'll disperse the GF's, which means that their battle will stop and the city will be spared that battle." "I can see why it's useful, shouldn't we be going then?" Kiros asked "Sure, coming Biggs?" "Yeah, okay." He muttered something under his breath and started walking "What was that?" Laguna asked as they walked down the corridor "Wait, where's Wedge?" "He went on ahead, sir. We were both worried that it might be a trap. We got in too easily." "Ultimecia has a grudge with SeeD, we don't have anything to worry about from her."

They reached the door to the main office and went in. Inside was Wedge, he was frozen in place almost. By the desk was a woman who was so familiar it was scary.

"Her, on the other hand." Laguna said, indicating Adel "Would just love to do all manner of unpleasant things to me. SCATTER!"

Everyone ran in different directions as Adel launched her first attack.

………

Cid went left and Zell went right, as Ultimecia fired an energy blast. Fiona and Carlo just ducked under it. As she was readying another shot, Zell turned and ran directly at Ultimecia.

Zell went to hit her but didn't connect, a barrier seemed to be in the way. Ultimecia smiled and flicked her fist at Zell. He dodged and stepped back a few paces. Over his shoulder a knife bounced off the shield. But at the exact time the knife hit the barrier, a thunder bolt forked over Ultimecia.

"Nice try," Ultimecia sneered "Here's a real thunder attack."

She raised her hands and the clouds thickened, rain came down and lightning lit up the sky. She brought her arms down suddenly and it struck the Carlo, the magic user. One look at him was all that was needed to see that he wasn't getting up again!"

A scream echoed in the air, Zell suddenly realised it had came from himself. He flew at Ultimecia, planning to end it once and for all! 


	14. Chapter 13

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 13

The Highwind flew through the air with difficulty. It was because the engine that they were using hadn't been designed for the Highwind, it was designed for the Genelka airships, and as Cid wasn't around to be able to do his miracle work, the Highwind didn't feel like the same ship that had helped them so much a year before.

Tifa stood in her usual spot near the front of the bridge. Despite the shaking and noise from the ship, she thought it was quieter than usual. But then, Cid wasn't barking orders to the crew like normal.

Another reason could be because of the passenger that they had onboard, the crew that was flying the ship now was the same that had flown the Highwind a year before and they all remembered clearly who the enemy was, back then.

Elena had said that Reno seemed convinced that Sephiroth was telling the truth, that he was from another world, but Tifa wasn't so sure. The only thing that had half convinced her was the fact that Rinoa was almost certainly from another world. Therefore, Tifa had given Sephiroth the benefit of the doubt and brought him along… But along to what?

The message from Nanaki had been very urgent, Cloud was going to Corel and wanted everyone to get there as soon as possible as well. Tifa wasn't sure what was going on, but the fact that it was a chance to see Cloud again had made up her mind.

………

Elena stood to the back of the bridge, watching Tifa. Elena could see that Tifa was in thought and was almost certain that Tifa was only thinking about one thing… Cloud.

Elena was also thinking hard, but she was more worried about Reno and Rude. They had both gone into Midgar completely unaware of the danger. As from what Sephiroth had told her, Zack was a very powerful fighter.

Elena looked down over the rail at Rinoa, the other visitor from another world, that she knew of; on seeing her, she frowned. Rinoa was still looking and concentrating on the materia around her, but the thing that got Elena was the fact that Rinoa was smiling, 'what she so happy about?' Elena thought.

Rinoa's head lifted and she looked toward Tifa's position. Elena looked as well and saw Tifa speaking to one of the crew members quietly. Straight after, Tifa walked over to her.

"Elena." Tifa started "Why don't we head over to the operations room. I need to get my mind of everything." "Huh? Oh, more training." Tifa nodded and Elena smiled "Okay, lets go."

Elena had been training with Zangan to learn the fighting style to continue her ongoing training as a Turk. Zangan had been pleased that she had picked up the basic techniques very quickly and decided that she would be the best training partner for Tifa.

………

The two girls were half hour into their training, both knew that they would be taking a break in a matter of moments, so they put a bit more effort in to their sparring.

Tifa's fists flashed at Elena; she dodged most and blocked one that was heading for her head; that was what Tifa had been waiting for, she put her foot on Elena's thigh and leaped into her somasault move. Elena caught on quickly, she barely got her head back to narrowly evade a blow that would have sent her flying.

Elena stepped back quickly and then launched an attack of her own.

As her combo finished, she threw a punch a little harder than was necessary and overbalanced slightly, Tifa tried to take advantage but Elena was luring Tifa into a trap. Elena ducked down and swept Tifa's legs out from under her. Elena then spun back to her feet. She was quickly put back on the floor though, when Tifa's out-shooting leg hit Elena in the mid-section as she fell.

The two ladies got back up and smiled at each other.

"Not bad, Elena, you've been practicing, you really got me with that last move." Tifa said cheerfully "Not as much as you got me though, Tifa." Elena replied, holding her stomach where Tifa had kicked her "That really hurt." She grimaced "Oh. Sorry." Tifa apologised quickly "I didn't mean to…" "Just kidding, Tifa!" Elena smiled again "It was good to see you trying this time."

The girls went to a nearby table and sat down, Tifa was not as gloomy now, but Elena could tell something was on her mind.

"What's up, Tifa? You've got a problem. I know it, just tell me." Tifa sighed heavily "It's Cloud." "I guessed that. What about him?" Elena pressed "I don't know what I'm to do when I see him, half of me wants to run in to his arms and give him a big hug." "But?" Half of me wants to kick him into next week." Tifa said sharply "Half of me wants to hurt him for what he did to me. The pain he's caused me." "So? What are you going to do?" Elena asked softly "I don't know…" Tifa almost whispered.

………

Outside the town, Seifer saw a crowd gather. He made his way round it and stepped up to Barret, who was a little further forward than the rest.

"What's going on?" Seifer asked "Not too sure? But the airship there is the Highwind, we may be getting an unexpected visitor." He was pointing to the metallic machine about a half mile away.  
"Unexpected?" Seifer grabbed his blade in readiness. Barret saw him and shook his head.  
"Don't do that, it's not necessary. They are friends of mine." "Oh… Okay." Seifer didn't let go of the gunblade though.

After a while, the first people from the ship came into view. Many Seifer didn't recognise and dismissed them in his mind. But one… Walking next to a woman at the front, was Rinoa.

"Rinoa!" Seifer shouted, almost at the exact time of Barret shouting "Tifa!" The two looked at each other. They were about to say something, when from behind the walking group, a dust cloud was piling up. Out of it, two men on Chocobo's and a wolf-like figure were coming up to the crowd.

Rinoa and the people she was with hadn't seen them yet, so Seifer stopped them from talking by raising up his hand.  
As the two people on Chocobo's came into view, Seifer almost laughed. One was Squall.  
Seifer lifted up his gunblade and pointed with it at his incoming rival. Rinoa, puzzled, turned to look and on seeing him, let out a sigh of relief.

Seifer's mind was going through a lot of emotions. Like it always did when he saw Rinoa. Envy, Jealousy and many others. But, strangely, hate was not among them. He didn't hate Squall for marrying Rinoa, despite his own history with her, he was glad that she was happy, plus he also knew, he had a good friend to return too. He just hoped that their love for each other was as strong as Squall and Rinoa's.

Barret barked some orders to a couple of people behind him, they replied quickly and gathered the Chocobo's as soon as Squall and his companion stopped.

………

Elena was walking behind Tifa and Rinoa, in front of them a crowd had gathered, at the front was Barret, his big build was almost impossible to misplace, but next to him there was a man she didn't recognise.

"Damn! Tifa, we need to get this crisis over with soon." Elena was almost angry "How are we supposed to know the enemy when we have so many people we don't know around." All Tifa could do was nod "Just be glad we left Sephiroth in the Highwind. It'll cause an even bigger uproar if he showed himself!"

Elena nodded and stopped while Tifa and Elena kept going. Tifa walked up to Barret, while Rinoa went to the other man. The other man shook his head and pointed to behind them with a curious blade. Elena turned and saw what he had. Chocobo's were racing into the area, on them were Cloud and another person. The strangest thing though, was who was joining them. It looked a lot like Nanaki, except that it was slightly larger and had a grey coat of fur, instead of Nanaki's Fiery Red.

Two men from the town ran forward and gathered the Chocobo's. Cloud and his companion, who Elena guessed was Squall, started toward the group. Elena was just about to turn back, when Tifa and Rinoa ran past her. Tifa stopped a few feet from Cloud, but Rinoa ran right into Squall; giving him a long hug.

Uncomfortably, Elena looked on as Cloud and Tifa just stood there, looking at each other. Suddenly, Tifa's fist flashed out, punching Cloud squarely in the nose. Cloud took the punch and stood there, expecting another one. It didn't come though, Tifa just cried out and embraced Cloud. He had a shocked expression on his face.

Elena smiled and turned to the town, she had to find this fellow Turk, and deal with him first before she could do what she had planned.

………

Tifa was crying, Cloud knew it; she could see it; she could hear it; but most painful of all he could feel it.

He pushed Tifa away from him. He couldn't, he was too torn apart inside, sure Aeris was dead, been absorbed into the Lifestream, but he couldn't bring himself to believe it.

Cloud looked into Tifa's eyes, his vision still slightly blurred by her punch. The question why was in her eyes, like it always was. They also showed that she knew the answer, but like Cloud, didn't want to believe it.

Barret stepped up, clearing his throat "This is all well and good. But can we please have some explanations here. You know I hate surprises! So tell me! Why are you all here in my town. Oh, a few introductions might me in order to."

Cloud looks over at Squall and he nodded. Cloud had expected this and the two of them had come up with a way to shorten the time necessary for it. Squall called the man with a strange blade over to him, while Cloud called over Barret.

Cloud started "Okay, some people we know, some we don't. I'm Cloud, this is Tifa… and Barret. Erm. I thought I saw Elena here?" "She's doing something." Tifa quickly explained "Turks stuff." "Oh." He indicated to Squall "And…" Taking his cue, Squall continued "I'm Squall. This is Rinoa… and Seifer." Cloud spoke up again "Now as for the reason…" "Hold up, Cloud!" Barret interrupted "How about the wolf there? Who is that?" "Oh, well…" Cloud had hoped to skip this "That is… Seto." A gasp came up from Barret and Tifa.  
"Do you mean that Seto, Cloud?" Tifa exclaimed, Cloud nodded.  
"Red's pops?" Barret's added, Cloud nodded again.

Seto had asked him not to go into the details of how he was cured, Cloud and Squall had then both promised that they wouldn't say.

"Anyways, as to the reason why we are all together, this is the situation."

Cloud started his explanation. Trying to be as thorough as possible.

………

Elena was almost in tears "I hope they're alright." She said out loud.

The door opened and a young man walked in. Elena quickly wiped her face, after all, the pride of the Turks had to be upheld.

"Sorry I'm late, Elena." The man apologised "I ran into a little trouble at the old reactor site. Seems that the monster problem is getting a little out of hand around here." "That's okay, I guessed that was the reason, I've been reading your reports since the start of your assignment. You've done some excellent work." "I'm trying, madam." "Don't do that!" Elena grimaced "Huh?" "Call me madam. I'm not too much older than you, okay?" The young man looked ashamed "Sorry, Elena." "Better, now then. I'm here to get the current situation around here, and also to give you some combat training. But I think we can skip the training, as you seem to have had some recently." "Thank you, Elena." "That's okay, so what's going on around here?"

The young man cleared his throat and started. Elena listened carefully, but the fact that Reno and Rude had gone into Midgar still worried her. 


	15. Chapter 14

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 14

He couldn't stand it, Hojo was laughing.

"Vincent, my boy. Good to see you again." Hojo greeted him.  
"Damn you, Hojo. What are you up to now!" "Just my research, a good scientist always continues, no matter what happens." So you're behind the light that transported everyone!" Irvine accused from behind Vincent.  
Hojo frowned "Alas, I am not. I wish it was me, it's an incredible achievement."

Vincent was almost at bursting point. He could sense his body wanting to change.

"Ah, whatever could the matter be, my boy." Hojo looked at him "Having trouble forgiving me for what I did to you? Ha, Ha, Ha. Feel free to let the anger out." Hojo's form shimmered and flashed, when it settled, Vincent and his group were facing Hojo's ultimate Jenova form. "Because I haven't forgotten what you did to me in Midgar that day! It's nice to know my revenge will be sweet."

Vincent, realising that Hojo was about to attack, shouted to everyone "Keep your distance, people, his attacks are all close range."

Irvine was the first to react, he unleashed his shotgun, most of the bullets missed, but one bit into the arm of the life form. Hojo screamed in pain and turned to Irvine. Fujin saw an opening and threw her weapon straight at Hojo.

Hojo looked back and spotted it, he flicked his tail at it to deflect it. He succeeded, but failed to protect himself. Vincent opened fire and a lot of the bullets hit Hojo. But instead of screaming in pain, Hojo laughed.

"Come now, you really think your meagre weapons can harm me? I think you seriously need to rethink your strategy… Of course, you won't have chance!"

With that Hojo rushed at Vincent.

………

As Irvine looked on, waiting for a clean shot at Hojo. Raijin rushed in and struck Hojo from behind with his fighting rod. He then spun it round and struck Hojo on the side of his head.

Raijin jumped back to get away, but Hojo recovered quickly, Almost as if Raijin's blows did little or no effect. Hojo grabbed out with his tail and wrapped it around Raijin's neck. Slowly, with intense pleasure, he lifted Raijin up, strangling him in mid-air.

"RAIJIN!" Fujin shouted. She slowly spun and threw her weapon at Hojo. The speed and power of her attack was greater than Irvine had ever seen from her before.

The circular blade flew straight and true. But somehow, Hojo ducked and raised Raijin in the path of the blade. He screamed and fainted as the blade bit deeply into the top of his right arm. It had only been luck that the blade didn't sever the arm completely.

"NO!" Fujin shouted, falling to her knees.

To Irvine's right, Vincent was shaking. He had dropped his gun and was starting to shimmer. Irvine knew what was coming next. He ran to Fujin and literally had to drag her to cover.

Hojo released Raijin, the jolt caused Raijin to wake and after a quick shout from Irvine, somehow made it over to his position.

"Yes, yes!" Hojo was screaming "Change! Become your berserk nature. It will be you're undoing!"

………

Vincent could feel his body out of control; he had changed, but that was not the worst part. Usually he had a little control over the beast and could guide it to attack the enemy, but it was not the case this time.

The creature he had become was attacking his companions!

Behind him, he could hear Hojo laughing. That made Vincent even angrier, but it also meant he had even less control than he did before.

'Wait' Vincent shouted silently into his own head 'Was this Hojo's plan? To get me like this!'

He tried to concentrate, to get himself under control. But each time he tried, the laughter of Hojo came stronger and he got angrier with each chuckle.

He could feel his humanity slipping away. The beastly nature of his Jenova cells growing stronger and stronger. He made one more weak attempt to gain control, but it was stopped before it could even get started as the laughter of Hojo pierced his consciousness again.

As he faded, he found himself thinking of Lucrecia, Gaust and strangely enough, Sephiroth. He thought about what Hojo had done to Lucrecia, how he killed Gaust in front of his wife and child (which he had found from the files in Professor Gaust's old house) and finally he thought of how Sephiroth would have turned out if Hojo had not experimented on him before he was born.

Every part of his mind screamed for revenge and the body hesitated. Vincent suddenly realised something.

'It's my body!' Vincent thought 'It may be a different body, but it is still mine. I gained a bit of control when I concentrated on Hojo. I wonder?'

He again delved into his memories of Hojo, how he experimented on human subjects, on animals, on plant's, even on dead corpses. The way that Hojo killed him, just to bring him back to life as he is now, a monster. How he always said it was for his 'research'.

Finally, he concentrated on the laughter. Turned it around in his mind, switching it into a beacon, something to follow, something to attack.

He continued until the beast was satisfied and the rage was fully under control. As Vincent reverted, he found himself standing looking down out of a large hole in the side of the room, which led outside. He saw Hojo's body falling and smiled.

He turned, remembering Irvine and the others. He spotted them behind a pillar and felt a pang of guilt. The three of them looked badly hurt. Especially Raijin, who's arm was bleeding heavily. Irvine smiled up at him and said a simple phrase which Vincent couldn't help but laugh at.

"Welcome back."

………

Biggs had taken cover behind one of the pillars in the main office, he looked over to where Adel stood.

There had been a rush for him to find cover, but during that time, he hadn't really been targeted by an attack. Practically all the attacks Adel made were aimed at Laguna.

Biggs signalled to Wedge, who was only a few feet away. He nodded and started around the room, keeping to cover as often as possible.

Adel spotted him and turned to attack, but that was what Biggs was waiting for. He stepped out and fired from his wrist gun. The bullets hit her side, mainly her leg. Adel stumbled a bit and Kiros took the advantage and launched from his place. He was on her in a heartbeat, he struck her back, leaving a couple of deep cuts, before retreating with the same speed.

Adel was furious. She screamed at them, but it was beyond that, she was screaming in pain. She was changing.

Wedge stopped his advance as everyone looked on in wonder. As she screamed. She started to smoke, it came out of every part of her body, and surrounded her. As it settled, a hideous form emerged, it was only barely recognisable as Adel, but was definitely her.

Adel now looked like she had melted, her flesh was stretched and folded over her. Her legs had fused, she could no longer move, but her arms were a lot longer.

Biggs was stunned, he looked at this companions and saw each with similar expressions. Laguna though had his wits and quickly grabbed everyone's attention.

"Keep you guard up. Anything can happen now."

The mass that was Adel turned as best it could and grabbed Laguna with her new arms. They stretched to cover the distance between them.

Laguna cried out as she squeezed and dragged him slowly to her.

Ward, lumbered forward as quickly as he could and grabbed one of the arms. With all his strength, he pulled and ripped the arm off of Laguna. Wedge, taking his cue from Ward, rushed forward as well and with a sweep of his sword, cut the other arm off.

Laguna, now free, threw the remains of the arms off of him and retreated swiftly. He spotted his machine gun on the floor. His training kicked in, as well as adrenaline, probably. He dived and grabbed the weapon, he tucked himself and rolled

Ward and Wedge saw what was coming next and threw themselves to the ground. Laguna came up facing Adel and opened fire. Because Adel couldn't move, all the bullets hit, but they didn't seem to affect her. The stretched flesh seemed to absorb them.

Seeing this, Biggs waved to Wedge, who was still on the floor, and called him over.

"I need time, Wedge." Biggs said before Wedge could "I need to find her weak spot, can you keep her busy for a while?" "Huh? Me? Do you know what you ask…?" One look at Biggs face said the answer "… Of course you do… Okay, okay, I'll do it, but be quick about it!" "Sure" Biggs replied

As Wedge ran in to start his diversion, Biggs concentrated on Adel. Adel quickly replaced any appendage that had be torn off of her. The skin absorbed all bullet attacks, there seemed to be no way to get through to the more sensitive parts of the body.

Biggs walked around the room, keeping close to the wall, but always looking at Adel.

He was behind her when he saw it. Where Kiros had cut her before she changed, the flesh was different. Compared to the rest of her, it was smooth, with two long scars in the middle. This may be the spot he was looking for.

Biggs looked around at his companions, Kiros was the closest and least occupied. Biggs tried to get his attention and succeeded.

Kiros came round and Biggs pointed out his findings and explained his plan. Kiros smiled and nodded. He ran off and met up with Laguna and Ward, speaking quietly with them, telling about Biggs strategy.

For a moment, Biggs marvelled at Kiros's speed. Laguna had mentioned that Kiros didn't have his youthful zip. But if he could be this fast at his age. How quick was he during his younger years?

Very soon, Kiros had finished talking to his two friends. Wedge to his credit was keeping Adel busy enough, but he was tiring quickly. But if the plan worked, Wedge wouldn't have to participate much longer.

Ward, silently got up and walked over to where Wedge was, he pointed to Kiros and stepped toward Adel. Wedge looked grateful and retreated to a safer position. Meanwhile, Laguna had made his way round to Biggs.

"You sure this will work?" Laguna whispered "No, I'm not, but it's the best hope we've got. Anything else we've attacked just seems to grow back." "Hmm… Yeah, you're quite right. Let's try your plan."

The two stopped talking and waited for their chance to strike.

………

Ward was staring at Adel. The mess of flesh and arms that she had become. Ward didn't understand what was going on, but he didn't need to. All he knew was that he had a job to do. To hold Adel in place long enough, so Laguna and Biggs could attack from behind.

As expected, the arms reformed and flew at him. He made a half-hearted attempt to stop them, but effectively wanted for her to grab him.

As the arms snared him and started squeezing, he realised something. She seemed to be having trouble holding on to him. The squeezing was nothing that Ward couldn't handle, but it puzzled him. Could Adel not be as strong as she looked?

………

Biggs looked at Ward. He was in Adel's grip, but didn't seem to be having a problem holding her. In fact, he had a quizzical expression on his face.

He didn't have time to ponder this, as he spotted his chance.

With the honed reflects of Laguna and himself, they aimed and fired quickly. The combined attacks from the two guns hit Adel where Kiros had scarred her.

The scream from Adel was deafening. The arms untangled from Ward and went to her back, where she had been hit. But the damage was done. As blood poured from the wound, she started glowing.

………

After his short break, Wedge was ready. At least, he thought he was.

Now, though, he was having trouble holding onto them thoughts. Adel was glowing brightly now. It was a bright blinding light and seemed to penetrate the mind. He shook his head to rid himself of the disruption, but it was no use. He then decided to try not to think at all.

As the light dimmed. A figure appeared where the mutant Adel had been.

The figure was a more normal height, which at first put Wedge off that it was still Adel. But as the face appeared, it was unmistakeable.

It WAS Adel, but everything was different.

The new Adel stood approx. 6' 6", a far cry from her old height, but she still had the same proportional build. Her body shone with a light that was almost blinding to look at, but as it died down more, Wedge was able to get a better look at her new body. There was a kind of armour there, but it seemed like it was completely natural, like it was her body.

As the transformation ended and Adel started moving, she looked herself over and smiled.

"Interesting." Adel spoke, there was a high tone to it, and a pronounced sense of confidence "I see now. So he did not restore my powers. He used that process to give me other abilities. Which would mean…" Adel started laughing and walked to a panel in the wall by the main desk.

She opened it and pressed a button. Wedge didn't understand what was going, but he did feel something different around him.

Across the room he saw Laguna smiling. For some reason, he had placed himself by the door out of the office.

"Now Ultimecia," Adel was continuing to herself "You are powerless. Nothing will stop me from you…" She turned to the door and saw Laguna there Laguna was still smiling "Nothing? What about me?" "You!" Adel exclaimed, laughing harder "How do you expect to stop me?" Laguna's smile vanished "You're not nearly as powerful as you believe, Adel. I noticed that a little while back." Adel threw a ball of light at him, Laguna grimaced but did not fall. He didn't even have to step back. "How…! What is going on here!" Adel shrieked

Laguna waved to Kiros, he shot out from his place and slashed at Adel's arm and side. The natural body armour prevented any cuts, but it was obvious that she was hurt from the look on her face.

"You see, Adel. Yes, you are powerful, but my comrades and I are a team, you have no chance."

Laguna waved to Ward this time, who slowly advanced on Adel. Adel, for the first time ever had to look up to someone. She attempted a punch at him. He grunted as it connected with his jaw, but was unfazed as he retaliated by hitting her in the chest with a powerful shot which sent her flying back and hitting the desk.

"Yes, you are still big and strong and powerful, but as Ward just showed you, you can't match him on brute strength now."

Biggs signalled for Wedge to be ready. He nodded and found a path to Adel and crouched down, waiting.

"Even the new additions to my team. Biggs here," Biggs stepped forward and aimed at Adel "and Wedge behind you, have the advantage over you…" but Adel had turned to face Wedge, just as he reached her and slashed at Adel. The sharp blade hit her in the chest. Again, the armour didn't show any sign of damage, but Adel screamed in pain. Wedge played safe and withdrew back to his original position.

"You may think you're all-powerful, But you're not. You're simply another wannabe, who's trying to beat us." Laguna fired his Machine gun at the ground in front of Adel. "But I may be wrong, see if you can prove it to me…" Laguna took out a grenade from his pocket "If you think you can, survive this…"

He pulled the pin and tossed it to Adel. She caught it and smiled, then started laughing. Laguna and the others ran for cover. Adel's laughter was cut off by the explosion of the grenade.

After a while, the dust settled, Adel was nowhere to be seen.

"Look at all this dust… I'm definitely going to have to get my office cleaned more often." Laguna joked. 


	16. Chapter 15

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 15

Fiona was feeling sick. It wasn't because of any ailment, it was because she was afraid.

She had just seen Carlo drop from a single spell from Ultimecia and he was a seasoned, experienced SeeD. What chance did she, a newly appointed member, have against her.

As Zell continued his attack, Cid appeared near Carlo. He checked him then sighed and looked at Fiona. He must have seen something.

"What's wrong, Fiona? You scared?" Cid said in a soft voice.  
Fiona could only nod.  
"Good" Fiona's head jerked up at that statement, Cid didn't stop "It's okay to be afraid… Hell, I'm always afraid when I go into battle." "You! Why?" "Because you acknowledge your fear. You know it's there." "I don't understand…" "Let me tell you about someone I know."

Cid looked over at Zell, he seemed to be fine. So he went into his story.

"Her name was Aeris, she was the last survivor of an ancient race on my planet." "Was…?" But Cid ignored her "We were faced with a crisis, a powerful spell called Meteor had been cast and was threatening to destroy the planet."

Cid checked Zell again.

"Aeris decided to go to a special place to call upon her ancestors and the planet to destroy the threat." Cid paused "She knew she would die, because the enemy that cast the Meteor spell was listening. But she went anyway… and she was able to make it possible for myself and a few others to destroy this enemy and free the planets power to destroy the Meteor." "I don't understand" Fiona said confused "I'm meaning. That even though she knew she would die and was scared, she went forward because she couldn't just stand back and do nothing. That's what Carlo did, I could see it in his eyes. And it's also what you should do, because you may help, even if it's only a little, you may help."

Fiona was silent for a bit, then she remembered "Wait… Carlo's magic got through…" "See, as long as you see what he accomplished, he helped… It was probably because her shield will only defend against either Physical or Magical attacks, not both at the same time." "How…?" "I was watching her when it happened." He pulled out a small green jewel from his pocket. "How are you with magic?" "Okay, I guess. But I don't have a Guardian Force junctioned, so I can't use magic." "I don't know what Guardian Force's are, but this is how we use magic on my world." He held out the jewel and gave it to Fiona.  
"Huh? What's this?" "It's called a Materia. What you do is concentrate on it, feel it's power. Then with your spirit, call the power out and target it at the enemy."

Fiona looked and felt the materia, it was smooth and shiny but she couldn't sense anything unusual.

"I can't do it, Cid. You know this better, why don't you do it?" "Because I'm useless with magic. Give me a science solution any time and I'll use that. But with magic? Get someone else."

Fiona wasn't listening, she was still trying to get a response from the jewel.

"Pardon? You say something?" "Never mind." Cid said "Anyway, keep trying. Me and Zell will distract her until you get it. Once you have, try to synchronise your attack with one of ours." Fiona nodded, not taking her eyes off the jewel. As Cid ran to Ultimecia to assist Zell. She started to feel something from the jewel. She looked carefully and saw it had started glowing slightly.  
Fiona smiled.

………

Cid looked back at Fiona one last time before charging Ultimecia, Fiona was still concentrating on the materia he had give her. He saw a faint glow from the green jewel and smiled.

As he reached the enemy, he struck forward with his spear. As expected, the barrier around Ultimecia absorbed the blow, he quickly spun away from a punch and pushed his spear back and surprisingly, to both him and Ultimecia, the butt end of the weapon struck the leg of the Sorceress.

The two stepped away from each other. Seeing an opportunity, Zell ran forward and attempted a kick. Ultimecia raised her hand, but Zell's kick hit true in her stomach sending her back a few paces.

Ultimecia had a look of total shock on her face "WHAT IS THIS!" Zell laughed, adopting a different stance "Just a little present for you. We all know of your power." He looked around "So, we've blocked you from it." "What! How?" Ultimecia didn't look afraid, and there was a note of curiosity in her voice.  
"A little device. It negates all magical energies, meaning, you're no more powerful than a normal person now."

Ultimecia lifted her head back and laughed.

From her sleeve she removed two small objects. Cid almost immediately recognised them and readied himself. Ultimecia threw them to the ground and a monster emerged from each.  
But before they could attack, they burst into flames.

………

Ultimecia looked at the burning creatures and then at Zell and Cid "How?" She demanded.  
Zell was silent, but Cid just burst into laughter "Behind us." Was all Cid said.  
Both Ultimecia and Zell looked. Fiona was smiling

"It worked!" She said happily Zell was puzzled "How? What worked?"

Cid took a small object from his pocket, which he raised for all to see. It was a small jewel, which glowed a pale pink colour. Zell suddenly realised that Fiona held a similar jewel in her hand, only green in colour.

"With these. This is magic from my world. From what I've seen, it's completely different from this one." He placed the jewel into a slot in his weapon "Our magic is also quite flexible. The one that young lady holds, over there, is Fire magic." He said indicating Fiona "While this one… boosts agility."

Without another word, he ran at Ultimecia. Zell was shocked at the speed, Even he couldn't be that fast.  
But for some reason, Cid only hit Ultimecia lightly with the side of his spear.

Ultimecia grunted, but didn't move. There was a bewildered expression on her face "Why? You could have easily killed me." "You're right, my girl…" "CID, what are you doing!" "I won't kill a defenceless woman, even an evil one!" Cid went into his bag and pulled out a rope and started to bind Ultimecia.

Behind Zell, the rest of the SeeD were running up to the palace entrance.

"But Cid…" Zell ran up, and went to hit Ultimecia. But before his could, Cid grabbed his arm and held it firmly.  
"Don't do that, Zell." Cid said, angrily "What's the problem anyway? As long as that device of yours is active, she's practically harmless, right!" "Harmless… Device? AHH!" Zell quickly turned to the SeeD group, picking someone at random "You, go to the president's office and tell him to keep that device on!" The SeeD member saluted and started toward the palace.  
"HURRY!" The person jumped slightly and started running.

………

Ifrit jumped back from Griever's fist. Just as Sacred and Minotaur tried to attack from behind.

The problem, Shiva had noticed, was not that they were having trouble holding Griever back. It was that they were destroying the city. Shiva was wondering if they were really doing any good, or just adding to the problems.

Shiva had always liked Esthar, it reminded her, of her own Queendom of Ice. With the buildings reflecting the sun's light into beautiful colours.

A blast from Griever in her direction snapped her out of her daydream. Shiva quickly dodged and countered with an Ice spell. It hit Griever in the arm and froze it. But due to Griever's strength, he quickly broke free.

Off to her left, Carbuncle, who was using his hiding abilities to distract Griever caught Shiva's attention. He was shaking violently, and with a strange expression on his face. Vanished.

Concerned, Shiva looked around. Each of the Guardian Forces, including Griever, were pulsing, like they were having trouble holding their forms. To take her eyes away from that scene, she looked down. Her gaze came to her hand. That too was shimmering.

One by one, like Carbuncle before, the Guardian Forces disappeared, eventually leaving just herself and Griever. Finding it hard to hold her thoughts, she realised that this was not Grievers doing. As it was obvious that he was affected by whatever had caused this as well.  
A few moments after, her vision became black.

A familiar wind awoke her as it fell on her face. She opened her eyes and looked. Somehow she was back in her Queendom. The place where she always returned to, after her duties were done. But something was wrong, she had not finished, she had not been given leave.

"Why am I back here?" Shiva asked into the wind "How did I get back?" But all that answered was silence.

………

Bahamut and Tiamat looked across the sky at each other, they were breathing heavily. They had both been attacking with all their strength.

Tiamat had been looking at Esthar on a number of occasions, but had never been too worried. Until now.

"MISTRESS!" He screamed at the city "Where are you! Mistress?" Bahamut wondered what was happening "What it the problem, my brother?" "I've lost my link. There is something wrong!"

Bahamut was feeling something different as well, but couldn't place what had changed.  
As a test, Bahamut flew toward Esthar. But his instincts told him to stop a little way outside the city.

"What is this?" He put his arm forward and after it crossed an undefined point, it started to distort and shimmer.  
Tiamat joined him "Bahamut, my brother. I do not want to say this, but we should put our contest on hold at this time. Both you and I know that we must protect our summoners, and they should be placed above our conflict." "I have to agree, but from what I see, we cannot enter the city, I do not know what might happen if we did. We can only hope that everyone inside is alright."

………

"Where'd she go?" Wedge asked "Did she get blown apart completely?" Biggs countered "No, you two, I doubt that." Laguna said picking up a chair and then sitting in it.  
"Shouldn't we go after her then?" "No. I say we rest and leave it at that." "But why?" "Just let it go, Biggs." Laguna snapped angrily, causing everyone to step back in surprise "You may not have noticed, but she was not taking damage. Yes, we were hurting her. But if we couldn't damage the body… we'd never be able to kill her completely." Biggs lowered his head "Oh… I should have noticed that, I'm sorry…" "Hey, no apologises. You should be proud of yourself. Without most of your plans, we probably wouldn't have come out of that battle." Biggs face brightened "Thank you, sir." He said, beaming.

Ward put a hand to his jaw, trying to be secretive about it. But Laguna saw.  
"Her punch hurt more than you let on?" Ward looked surprised, then embarrassed and nodded slightly Laguna laughed "Don't worry about it. I was having trouble standing myself after her shot at me." "WHAT!" Kiros cried "You mean you were acting?" "Of course." Laguna was looking strangely at him "Come on, Kiros. Don't tell me you were surprised by that? You know me better than myself, most times." "Laguna…" "Yeah?" "You never change…"

Laguna was just about to answer that when a pop was heard by the desk. The five went over to look. A small panel smoked and burned.  
Behind them, the doors burst open. A man in a SeeD uniform running in.

"Whatever you do, don't turn off the Anti-Magic Field!" The panel crackled and then went dead. Laguna looked down at it and grimaced "Too late."

………

Ultimecia felt her power return. It was time.  
'Tiamat.' She said silently, guiding her mind to the dragon outside the enormous city 'Who is this?' Came the reply 'I am Ultimecia. I offer you an opportunity. I know of the feud with Bahamut, your brother. I offer you the chance to come with me to the distant future. So you may claim the place which you are destined of, there.' 'All know of our feud. It is not secret. And what difference is there to gain my destined place then, instead of now?' 'The dragons are without a King. I need one such as yourself to bring the dragons together.' 'No king? My fellow dragons… My rightful place… I will accept.' 'Junction with me, I will take you there.' 'Agreed.' 'Griever. I sense you around me. It is time to return.' 'I understand. I return to you now, my mistress.'

………

"Okay Cid, now what do we do with her?" Zell asked "Haha. Here's an idea. Nothing." Came the sorceress's voice from behind them.

The SeeD and Cid looked at Ultimecia. She was standing straight and smiling broadly. The rope that once binded her, now around her feet.  
"I had fun today. I'll remember you all." She laughed and disappeared. It was almost as if she was never there.  
But one look at the, now, covered body of Carlo. Told them otherwise.

………

"Hi there, Cid. You wanted to see me?" Zangan said as he entered the office.  
"Zangan, good to see you. I'd just like to thank you for training some of the SeeD's a little." Zangan laughed "I've got to keep busy somehow." He had been working with a few of the students and incorporating some of his basic techniques into their fighting. He was pretty pleased with how it had turned out. "Besides, you've got a great outfit here, be a shame for me not to help in some way." "The teachers have appreciated it too. The students you've trained a little have applied themselves more in their studies too." "I did sort of have a hand in that too…" Zangan smiled "A couple of defeats to an old man will do that to you." "I guess it would." Cid smile was a broad as Zangan's "But enough of that… what did you want to see me for? I can tell it's not about my actions." "It shows?" Zangan nodded "Need to work on that then. I was thinking about the other people from your world." "What about them?" "If my SeeD's succeed, they may be able to find a way back." Zangan looked straight at Cid "You're right, but wasn't that one of the objectives of the mission?" Cid looked a little shocked "You knew?" "It wasn't really tough to figure out." "I guess not. At any rate, I've been getting a feeling lately about that." "A feeling?" "Yeah, it's weird. I keep thinking you need to be with them." Zangan shook his head "It's not weird at all. Always trust your feelings. They usually save you in the long run." "Looks like another lesson for me." Cid grimaced "You'll never stop, Cid." Zangan looked out the window "I've travelled my world a hundred times over. But I'm still learning new things." Zangan thought for a few seconds "What would be the best way to get me to that Esthar place?" "Well, all the airships are out on missions at the moment. So the best way would probably be…" Cid rubbed his chin in thought "The Horizon Bridge Railway, I guess." "Then it looks like I'm taking the train. When do I leave?" "Actually," Cid smiled "We'll be arriving in about 30 minutes." "Zangan laughed "That's what I like about you, Cid. You're always thinking ahead." "One tries his best." Cid's smile turned into a grin 


	17. Chapter16

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 16

"What is it with this world?" Rinoa, Squall and Seifer were talking in a small house that a girl had directed them to. Squall was looking out the window looking at the mountains.  
"What do you mean?" Rinoa asked "Almost everywhere I look, I see barren land, dead soil and no greenery. Why is that?" The mood in the room turned dark.  
"You really know how to kill a moment, don't you, Squall." "Sorry, Seifer."

A tense silence filled the room.

"It's a problem the world over." Squall and Seifer looked at Rinoa "As I was riding in the airship, I was able to look down at the ground. It's as if the life simply left the ground. In one place it's so bad, they've build a large city which is far above the ground." "Well… you're half right, Rinoa." A new voice came from the doorway.  
"Elena?" Rinoa recognised the voice.  
"Hi. Sorry to bother you. I was just wanting to make sure you were okay." "We're fine." Seifer said "What was that about Rinoa being half right though?" "Midgar, the city Rinoa was on about was built, but it wasn't built because of the barren land. It's the other way around. Up until about 10 months ago, Midgar was powered by Mako." "Mako?" confused faces were all around "Spirit energy. Mako is a natural product of the planet. Reactors were used to extract it and turn it into a form of power. The problem that came with it, though, was that Mako is the lifeforce of the planet. As we took more out, we were doing more damage to the surrounding area. If it had continued, it may well have destroyed the planet."

All three SeeD's were horrified "And this still happens?" "Tifa was part of this?" "What's being done about it?" All three questions came at the same time.

"Whoa. Not so fast. Okay, no, this doesn't happen any more. Like I said, this stopped about 10 months back. It was the time Tifa became President actually, it was her pressure that stopped it. In fact, before then, she was in a group which… erm… protested the use of Mako. As for what's being done?" She stopped "Well?" Rinoa pressed after a brief moment "There's nothing that can be done." "Say what?" "All we can do is leave it and le the planet repair itself. It'll take a great deal of time, but it's all that can happen." "I… see."

Outside the building came a shout calling Elena's name.

"I've got to go, don't hesitate to ask questions, we'll tell you if we know the answers." "Okay Elena. See you later."

After Elena left. Rinoa, Seifer and Squall looked at each other.

"So? What do we do now?" "To be honest. I don't know." Squall answered "It looks like they are in quite a mess, but is it really our place to interfere… or even help?" "That's a good question." Rinoa agreed Seifer snorted "It's not our world, but for the moment, we're stuck here. As I see it, we have two options. We just sit back and enjoy it as a vacation, or we offer our services and help in any way we can.

There was a brief silence.

"Well…" Squall broke into the quiet room "I think we should help. I was travelling with that Cloud fellow, and even though he's very good in battle, it looks like he'll need help in this." "I've fought with the Barret guy too." "As I have with Tifa." "And you're thinking on the situation?" Squall asked "From what I've heard, Tifa and Cloud saved this world with Barret and some other people. It took a combination of the group of them to do it… Almost like it did when we faced Ultimecia, Weird… But, I think they're missing some of that group, they could probably use the help." "Seifer?" "I say, we help, as well." "Huh?" Squall looked strangely at him.  
"What's the look for? I think we should help. It'll give us something to do. Plus, it may present us with a way home." "Hadn't thought of it that way. You might be right." "Of course I am."

They all laughed. It broke the tension and cheered them up immensely. After that they sat around and talked about they're recent travels in this new world.

………

As Sephiroth waited in the operations room of the Highwind. He thought of his life and compared it to the life of his dead counterpart from this world.

He couldn't believe how different the two of them were, despite being the same person. He had, in his world, summoned Meteor to destroy one person. Now that he had time to think about it, he realised it was the wrong thing to do. His counterpart, on the overhand, had summoned Meteor for his own goals and to destroy the entire world. Because of this, he hated himself for everything he had done. In both worlds.

Tifa had told him to remain on the ship, she said it was for his protection. But Sephiroth guessed that it was, in fact to keep from attracting too much attention. Both ways were acceptable and he had agreed. Now he awaited everybody's return.

He walked over to the front of the room. A computer display he was working with shone. He got back to learning of this world.

About a half hour had passed.  
The main door opened. Sephiroth turned to see who was coming in.  
He saw a very familiar sword come through it and reached for his own blade. He could only think 'Was it a trap?'

………

Cloud reacted on instinct to the sudden attack as he entered the room. After blocking a strong downward stroke, he dived into the room. Rolling on his impact with the floor, he got up facing his attacker.

The colour drained from his face when he saw. Strangely, though, there was a similar amount of shock on the face of the other man, as well.

"Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth only sneered with hatred and lunged. Cloud easily blocked and jumped back, further into the room.  
'How is Sephiroth here?' Cloud thought 'Is this who Tifa wanted me to see? But why?'

Sephiroth lunged again and Cloud blocked again.

"Sephiroth! Stop!" Cloud shouted "Why should I. Zack!" Sephiroth demanded "You will pay for your murderous actions!" "Zack?" Cloud said confused "Don't insult my intelligence, Zack. You may have changed your hair colour, but that sword you use sticks out much more than your hair!"

Cloud saw there was no reasoning with this person, so he did the only thing he could. He fought.

As Cloud went onto the offensive, he saw that Sephiroth was having trouble blocking the majority of his attacks. That, in itself, was strange. As Sephiroth's skills were the basis of his own, and he hadn't done anything special, so why was Sephiroth having trouble reading his strikes?

The sparks from the two blades flew off in all directions as they impacted each other. Cloud stepped back and then went in with a simple combination that's only purpose was to gauge Sephiroth's strengths. As the combination ended, he was surprised to find that it had disarmed Sephiroth and his blade had flown off to the main monitor at the back of the room.

Sephiroth fell to his knees "Finish it!" "Pardon?" "Kill me, Zack!" Sephiroth really believed he was Zack, it seemed "Kill me like you killed my family. My friends." Cloud had to stop this "I can't…" "What!" Sephiroth's head snapped up and looked Cloud in the eyes.  
"Two reasons. One, I didn't kill your family, or friends. Two, I'm not Zack! I'm…" Tifa came running in through the door "Cloud? Sephiroth? What's going on in here!"

………

Reno and Rude finally landed outside of Corel. They had been surprised, to say the least, that Tifa and Elena had left Junon very quickly and even more surprised at the destination.

Elena ran toward them excitedly, but suddenly stopped. Remembering her job and greeted them politely.

"Hello there, Reno. Rude. Welcome to Corel." "That's enough, Elena!" Reno said sharply "Why are you here! You know something is going on. The president… Tifa's safety is our main objective, but we can't do that if she's running off all over the place." "But, Reno. It is safe here." She said adamantly "How do you know that!" Reno exclaimed throwing his arms into the air "Mainly, because most of Avalanche is here. Including Cloud."

Reno froze and turned back slowly. Rude also had a worried look. Elena spotted it.

"Something wrong?" "Elena? Was there anything strange about Cloud?" "What? Don't think so. Anything in particular?" "Has he dyed his hair black? Or even look like it was once dyed?" "No. His hair is still as blond and spiky as it was. There's no sign of tampering." "I think I need to see him." Reno started to the Highwind.

………

"OH NO YOU'RE NOT!" Reno jumped from that statement from Elena.  
"You two are going to get cleaned up. You look terrible. I'll go and inform Cloud and Tifa you are here." "Don't forget to tell them about me, then." A new voice sounded from the Genelka airship. Elena's jaw dropped when se saw who it was.  
"A-A-Aeris?" "Glad you remember me, Elena. If you don't mind, I'm going to get cleaned up too. I need to get to the old reactor site quickly." She started off without waiting for a reply.

Elena was very confused about her appearance. She also noticed her figure was almost constant flickering. Elena dismissed it and pointed Reno and Rude towards the town.  
As they started walking, Elena turned to the Highwind then stopped. If this was that important, Rinoa and her group might need to know what was going on as well. She turned back to the town and ran up to Reno and Rude.

Reno looked at Elena curiously "I've got to get someone from town first." Elena said, without speaking any further "Oh." was all Reno said.

………

Aeris stood before the large hole where the Corel Reactor used to stand.

"Ahh!" She breathed heavily "That was harder than I thought."

Being connected to the lifestream certainly had its advantages. But the strain it puts on her if she is out for a long period is immense.  
Without another thought, she jumped into the hole.

A number of nearby people gasped in horror and ran to where she had been. As they turned back, they froze.  
Before them, the air seemed to shimmer and shake. If finally formed a figure and Aeris reappeared.  
Everyone took a step back. Three of the group were right on the edge though and they fell.

Aeris looked back and gasped. She instantly used her magic. She had discovered a number of useful new materia in her travels and used one to help the people.  
"FLOAT!" Aeris said, concentrating on the three fallers."

The three men looked at each other, with wild expressions, as they stood on air.  
One of them tried to go up, like scaling an imaginary staircase. To his surprise it worked. Smiling, the three soon made to back and were all standing on solid ground again.

Aeris gave them one last glance and then turned and made her way back to town.

………

Rinoa and her friends were still talking when Elena entered, but it seemed to have turned to less important matters. They were smiling and joking among each other. Elena decided it was okay, so she knocked politely and entered.

Rinoa smiled "Hey there, Elena!" That took her back a step "Huh? Why so cheerful?" "We've made a decision. But that's something else. What's up?" "Erm… Well, they'll be a meeting happening on the Highwind very soon. It'll be good if you came too." "Sure, that's fine." "Great! Shall we go then?" "Just a minute." Squall spoke up "A question first?" "Huh? Oh, sure, go ahead." "Is there anyone on this world that could find a way for us to get home?" Elena looked at Squall, then looked down "Probably not, no. From what I know, only one person would even try, but he died a year ago."

Elena fully expected the three smiles to disappear, and was a more than a bit suspicious when they didn't.

"Why are you still happy?" "We were just wondering, that's all. It would have doubled the chances, but it wasn't really necessary. We have someone on our world that's probably already working on a way now." "Really?" Elena's heart jumped "That's great! You'll be able to go home." Squall nodded, but Seifer interrupted "Maybe, but we don't know how long it'll take, or even if they are. So we've decided to help you out 'til then." The smiles around the room broadened "It'll give us something to do." Seifer completed "Thanks." Elena said dryly, were they taking this seriously?  
"Shall we go?" Rinoa asked

The three mercenaries stood up and started towards the door. Elena's mind went back to Reno and Rude as they made their way to the town. Something about the way they looked, wasn't right. It was like they were scared, but how could that be? And why?

"Elena. You okay?" Rinoa asked concerned from the doorway "Oh. Yeah, sorry. Thinking, that's all. Let's go then."

………

Cloud was puzzled, after hearing Tifa's explanation that this was not the Sephiroth from this world. He tested a theory of his.  
Turning to Sephiroth, he asked "Was there a man named Hojo from your world?" "Hojo? My father?" That almost sealed it "You know?" "Of course." "Now I know you're not the Sephiroth from here. Our one didn't know." "Why did you want to know about Hojo?" "Oh, yes. Do you know if he found out anything about Jenova?" "Jenova? Lets see." Sephiroth thought for a moment "I remember something called that. An alien organism from the time of the Ancients. He made a breakthrough when I was about 2 years old, I think. He did something, but there was an explosion, he didn't survive."

There was a silence before Sephiroth spoke again "I'm assuming he survived here?" Tifa nodded, Cloud just stood there.  
"What did he do?" "Hojo found the secrets of Jenova." Cloud said quietly "Before our Sephiroth was born. Hojo implanted the cells of Jenova in you… Our Sephiroth, it ultimately drove him mad."

Another silence ensued.

"TIFA! Where are you?" A voice was heard clearly through the quiet.  
Tifa stepped out the room and saw Elena with Rinoa, Squall and Seifer standing in the hallway "In here, Elena."

………

A breeze of air passed him. A lost, but not forgotten piece of history. He raised an arm, which surprised him. He pushed the door to the equipment cupboard which had housed him for almost a year.

Following the orders of his unseen controller, he stepped out into the bright lights and pyrotechnics of the Gold Saucer.

It was busy, he was literally surrounded by people, both staff and patrons. But he had a job to do, he reached the portal to the entrance and jumped in.

As he left through the main entrance, the ticket masters looked at him strangely for a second, before returning to their duties.

The airtram was waiting and he boarded. As the tram began its descent, he suddenly realised something. It thrilled him beyond belief.

Cait Sith was needed again! 


	18. Chapter 17

The Arrival of Omega Weapon

Chapter 17

"Vhat iz it? Vhere doez it come from?" Vhy did it happen? All of theze are good questionz indeed." "We know the questions, Doc. What I want to know; are the answers!" "Ze answers you wantz? Well, you come to ze right person." Dr. Odine said confidently and calmly back at Laguna.  
"So, you do know the answers." Laguna looked thrilled "Urm… No." Dr. Odine said with a straight face "But, I can tell you who iz the personz that did zis."

Everyone looked at Odine. The doctor laughed.

"Iz when I did some testing during ze Time Compression. I discovered an energy and took a record of zit." "An energy?" "Indeed. Zit iz a concentrated energy of immense power. Like zit belonged to one person." "One person… Ultimecia?" "Nos. She vas strong, but not like zis other person." "Zell? Irvine? You know what he's on about?" Laguna asked the two SeeD's.

They thought for a moment. Then looked at each other.

"Maybe…" Zell said "There was another thing in there, but it was a monster. Very strong though." "Squall, Rinoa and myself battled it. I think it was a weapon… called Omega." "Yes, that's it. I remember Squall saying something about it now."

"Zen, zat iz it. The energy produced by ze light is ze same as ze energy from Omega." "But, we destroyed…"

A Esthar soldier ran into the room "SIR!" "Calm down, man." Laguna barked "now, what is the matter." "A train just left the station." "Huh? What's so bad about that?" "It never left the city, sir." "Excuse me? How can a train leave the station, but not the city?" "We're not sure, sir. But apparently, just before the city limits, it encountered an energy field and stopped." "It crashed?" "No sir, it simply stopped. Like it couldn't go any further. There is no indication that there is a barrier there, except that nothing can get by it. Machine, Human or Animal. Nothing can penetrate it." "Is it just the station?" "Unknown, sir." "Then make it known! Send troops to all exits, to all city limits. Find out if we are completely trapped or not!" "Yes, sir!" The soldier saluted and ran out A new voice went into the room "Good ordering, fella. No room for argument, an excellent sign of a leader." "Zangan?" Zell recognised "Indeed, Zell, good to see you safe." "Same with you, but why are you here?" "I came to see if you had a way for me and my friends to get home." "Huh? Oh, yeah. Odine?"

Odine was looking at a display

"DOCTOR ODINE!" "Huh, oh, yes?" "We need you to do some things. They are all of equal importance. One, what is that barrier. Two…" "Time Compression…" "What?" "Time Compression, zit has been a year since zit started and ended, apparently, zit connected all ze time fore zat moment together. Zit vill be like zis for ze same amount of time zat it took you to defeat Ultimecia a year back." "How long was that?" Cid asked "Erm…" Zell thought, but Irvine had the answer "2 days, give or take. It was hard to tell as Time Compression made it so there was no day or night and no clocks worked." "Great…" Cid noted.  
"Anyways, vat els vas vanted." "Erm, oh yeah, sorry. Two, we need a sweep of Laguna's office. He faced Adel there, but he's not sure if he destroyed her or not. We need to know for sure." "Indeed…" "I'll do that, Doctor." Odine's assistant volunteered "I know you won't admit it, but I am better than you in that department." "… Okay, my friend. Go ahead."

As the assistant went to a cupboard and picked up some equipment, all eyes were on Zell.

"What?" Zell asked uncomfortably "Anything else?" A number of people said "Huh? Oh. And finally, we need you to develop a way for our guests here to get back to their world." "Glad you remembered." Cid said dryly "Hey!"

Odine turned to his display and changed the screen. On there was a number of patterns of light.

"I 'ave been vorking on one for a vile now. Ven Hojo took over zis place. He recognised my abilities. He asked me to verk on that exact project. I 'ave a number of formulas but no vay of testing zem." "What is needed?" Laguna asked "A machine. I need a machine built to exact specifications. I vill need von for each formula." "That's a lot of work." "I know." "Hmm…" Cid was thinking hard "I guess, I could help here. Do you have an plans for these machines?" "I do." "Good, can I see them?" "Zey are on zat table." Odine pointed to a table on the far side of the room.

Cid looked through them quickly. Everyone held their breath in anticipation.

"Shouldn't be too hard." Cid said after a few minutes. Everyone let out a sigh of relief "Plus, I've got a few ideas myself, that will make these better. Odine, I'll make these machines for you." "You vill?" "Yup, but I'm going to need help. Laguna, I need your best engineers. Right now. I've got 5 machines to make up here, and not much time to do it." "I'll go get them now." Laguna signalled to Biggs and Wedge and ran out.  
"Great." "Erm… Zere iz eight plans zere." "Yes, but I can make it so that some of the machines can test two, or even three of your formulas with only a flip of a few switches." "You can? Marvellous!" 


End file.
